Oleg Maskaev successfully defended his WBC heavyweight crown Sunday in Moscow with a unanimous decision over Peter Okhello in the first world title fight in Russia.
The 37-year-old Maskaev (34-5, 26 knockouts) captured the WBC title in August with a 12th-round knockout of Hasim Rahman. Okhello, a 34-year-old Ugandan who lives in Japan, dropped to 18-8.
Maskaev kept Okhello backpedaling in the early rounds and knocked him down with seconds left in the fourth round at Olympisky Stadium.
Early in the 10th round, Maskaev put Okhello into the ropes and later in the round battered him to a standstill with short jabs to the head.
The sellout crowd of 10,000, which included WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev and former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, called for a knockout, but Maskaev couldn’t land the blow.
“Not all worked smoothly today,” Maskaev said. “But then I slowly braced myself and make it to the victory.
“I expected the fight to be long. Peter Okhello was tough. I tested him several times, knocked him down but he withstood.”
The judges scored the bout 120-107, 118-109 and 120-107.
Maskaev was born in Kazakhstan when it was part of the Soviet Union, but has lived in the United States for a decade and is a U.S. and Russian citizen. President Vladimir Putin granted Maskaev Russian citizenship a day before the bout.
Middleweights: Fighting at home for the first time since becoming champion, Jermain Taylor was a little too excited.
“I came out trying for the knockout and threw a lot of wild punches,” Taylor said. “That is something you’re not supposed to do in boxing.”
Taylor eventually settled for a unanimous decision over Kassim Ouma on Saturday night in North Little Rock, Ark., a fitting ending to a homecoming that was successful but far from perfect. Ticket sales had been a concern all week, and Taylor was bothered for much of the fight by a cut over his left eye.
But Taylor (26-0-1) landed most of the big punches, and toward the end, Ouma’s (25-3-1) only chance was an unlikely knockout. Taylor, a Little Rock native, won the first six rounds on all three judges’ cards and the first nine on two cards. There was little suspense at the end – open scoring was used at the fight and showed Taylor with a big lead after eight rounds.
Taylor became the middleweight champion in July 2005 by beating Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas, then outpointed Hopkins there again that December. Taylor escaped with a draw against Winky Wright in June in Memphis, Tenn.
After three straight decisions, Taylor was eager for a change.
“I came out tonight and wanted a knockout really bad,” Taylor said. “I am in great shape, but I had to take out a loan in those last two rounds.”
Ouma, a native of Uganda, had been all smiles during the week.
He seemed to relish the chance to fight the bigger Taylor on the champion’s turf – he even raised his arms triumphantly after some of the later rounds despite being way behind on points.
A cut near Taylor’s left eye appeared around the fifth round, and he seemed bothered by it at times, occasionally lifting a hand to the eye.
“That comes along with the job,” Taylor said. “I will never let it get to me. It did affect my vision but I am a soldier, baby.”
Taylor came to the news conference after the fight wearing sunglasses, presumably to hide his eye injury.
