In the main event of the evening, a familiar guest came back to Ekaterinburg, in the heart of the Ural Mountains, for an unpleasant welcome again, as long-time Argentinean fringe contender Javier Francisco Maciel got beat by former amateur star Artem Chebotarev over ten rounds to lose a convincing unanimous decision.
Maciel was back to Russia seven and a half years after his first and only world title shot, when he had lost unanimously to Dmitry Pirog for the WBO middleweight title. This time he fought against multi-time European and world championship medalist for the WBO Intercontinental Middleweight belt.
The fight was mostly fought the same in every one of the scheduled ten rounds: Chebotarev, 30, pressed forward, while the Argentinean, 34, bounced back from the ropes to try and land body shots. He was mostly unsuccessful – unlike the Russian, who delivered his share of the blows with artistry.
Maciel was close to be stopped in the closing two rounds of the fight, when he was hit several times with series of unanswered blows but managed to last till the final bell. It didn’t help him, however, as he has lost a unanimous decision.
The final scores were: 98-92, 99-91 and 99-91 – all for the Russian, who improved his record to 6-0, 4 KOs. Maciel is going down to 33-8, 23 KOs.
By Alexey Sukachev / Boxingscene.com
