Russia-born, Germany-based super middleweight Evgeny Shvedenko is more used to fight abroad than in his native land. However, he has never disappointed his countrymen either. On Monday night, Shvedenko scored one of his finest wins, while fighting in St. Petersburg, Russia, by outpointing hard-hitter Artur Osipov for a vacant WBC International super middleweight title.
Shvedenko, 30, was just a notch better than Osipov, who is one year his senior and did little to establish himself in the ring. Osipov was unusually defensive-minded and didn’t let his punches flow at a desired rate.
Shvedenko sneaked forward with his jab, landing crisp one-twos to the head of Osipov whenever he got a chance. He also mixed his punches with occasional body attacks. His opponent landed some leather but was inconsistent in doing so and he had never been able to deliver one decisive equalizer to get Shvedenko’s attention.
At the end, all three judges had it unanimously for IBF #6 ranked Shvedenko (15-0, 6 KOs): 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91. Osipov goes down to 16-3-1, with 11 KOs.
The card, which was held at the Azimut Hotel, was promoted by Zyaki Yunisov of the YUKA Promotions. Also on the card, super middleweight Edgar Moskvichev (11-1-2, 4 KOs) decisioned Armenian import Arest Saakyan (5-2, 4 KOs) over ten, and welterweight Stepan Diyun (3-0-1, 3 KOs) made a short work of Belarussian Dmitry Miliusha (9-5-1, 4 KOs), who retired early due to a painful rib injury.