Saturday 24 August 2013

Stanyslav Kashtanov v Jaime Barboza

Little known "interim" WBA Super Middleweight champion  Stanyslav Kashtanov (31-1, 17) successfully retained his title today as he stopped the usually durable Costa Rican Jaime Barboza (18-8, 8) in the 10th round.

The fight, in Ukraine saw Kashtanov defending his title for the first time and it was obvious his confidence had grown since winning the title last time out. He took the centre of the ring and Barboza really struggled to get in close to the champion.

Although the champion is far from a puncher he is an intelligent fighter and seemed intent to just chip away at Barboza round after round as he slowly broke down the challenger. Although Barboza, who came in to the bout with a 2-4 record in his last 6 bouts, was never a real threat it was a case of staying professional until Barboza was there to put away.

In round 10 Kashtanov finally got he chance he was looking for as he dropped Barboza for the count becoming just the second man to stop the Costa Rican who's title hope must surely be over now.

The victory was never in doubt for Kashtanov though hopefully next time out he will be facing a better opponent than Barboza, how about someone like DeGale?

No comments:

Post a Comment