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Nikita Ababiy now has gone three straight fights without scoring a knockout.
The 22-year-old middleweight prospect topped Brandon Maddox by unanimous decision in their six-round, 162-pound bout Friday night in Hollywood, Florida. Judges Fredrick Fluty, Alexander Levin and James O’Connor scored their fight the same, 59-55 for Brooklyn’s Ababiy, on the Daniel Jacobs-Gabe Rosado undercard at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Ababiy upped his record to 10-0 (6 KOs).
Detroit’s Maddox, 34, slipped to 0-4-1 in his past five fights. Maddox (7-4-1, 5 KOs) has been knocked out twice, but he took Ababiy’s best shots well Friday night.
Maddox landed a right hand about 20 seconds into the sixth round. Ababiy and Maddox, though both tired, traded punches for the remainder of their six-rounder.
Maddox drilled Ababiy with a short, left hand inside at the halfway point of the fifth round. Maddox then landed a sweeping right hand with just under 45 seconds to go in the fifth.
Ababiy landed an extremely low blow 30 seconds into the fourth round, which caused a brief break in the action. Gentile warned Ababiy for fouling Maddox.
Maddox and Ababiy traded flush right hands later in the fourth round.
Maddox seemed fatigued in the third round, when Ababiy was much more active and accurate.
Ababiy belted Maddox with a right hand 40 seconds into the second round. Maddox and Ababiy traded hard body shots during the middle minute of the second round, although Ababiy took control of that round by landing several flush right hands up top in the final minute of it.
Ababiy and Maddox traded jabs for much of the opening minute of their fight. Ababiy landed a short, left hand with just under a minute to go in the first round, but Maddox connected with two right hands soon thereafter that bloodied Ababiy’s nose.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.