Oleg Maskaev, left, was quite satisfied with the form that he manifested on the Red Square.
Yuri Fedorov Sports Lab
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Maskaev Ready to Challenge World Champs
The Moscow Red Square witnessed a big boxing show Saturday. Once the WBC heavyweight king Oleg Maskaev of Russia prevailed over experienced Robert Hawkins and confirmed the intention to win back the title lost in March.
Maskaev performed the ten-round rating bout yesterday, during the Ring Stars on the Red Square show. The extent of the agiotage was great even for professional boxing, which weren’t surprising at all. Anyway, the bout of Maskaev and Hawkins was the obvious highlight. Maskaev, 39, that lost the WBC title by the knockout from Nigerian Samuel Peter March 8 pledged to go back and confirmed that promise Saturday.
The first round was more or less even, but the Russian started to take advantage in round two. Cunning Hawkins recovered in the third round, effectively attacking Maskaev a few times and sticking to the low-head tactics to prevent the knock-out. The American was rocked by Maskaev’s blows in the sixth round, when the outcome became quite clear actually, and the Russian remained the more active of two in the next two rounds.
All three judges scored in favor of Maskaev (100-92 and 100-90), signaling he won all ten rounds of that not particularly spectacular but nonetheless effective meeting, which proved his readiness to challenge one of the reigning champions.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 08, 2008
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