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Super middleweight Vladimir Shishkin dominated tonight’s main event on ShoBox: The New Generation, stopping a tough but outclassed DeAndre Ware in the eighth round in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
Shishkin (9-0, 6 KO) pretty much had it all his way in this one, as Ware (13-2-2, 8 KO) just wasn’t competitive, though he gave a game effort as far as staying upright goes, particularly in the eighth round, but by then he’d taken too much punishment and his corner threw the towel to stop the fight.
The 28-year-old Shishkin, a Russian, was making his US debut in this bout, and you have to call this a clear success. Ware, 31, was coming off of a solid win in February over Ronald Ellis, and was much more competitive last September in a decision loss to Cem Kilic. But it just wasn’t there tonight — Shishkin got on him early, and while his attack was pretty basic, it was very effective, and Ware never answered back with anything significant.
Shohjahon Ergashev TKO-4 Abdiel Ramirez
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Ergashev (17-0, 15 KO) is a really good 140 prospect, a 27-year-old from Uzbekistan and now based in Detroit, but this was a made-to-order fight for him, not really in the traditional spirit of ShoBox. Ramirez (24-5-1, 22 KO) came in having lost three of his last four, has never really beaten anyone any good — not a prospect, not even a particularly good gatekeeper. But it is what it is, a showcase for Ergashev, who against this level of opponent is a real destroyer.
Ergashev threw a ton of punches here, beat Ramirez up, and dropped him in the second, though it was far more shove than the punch that had landed putting Ramirez down. Didn’t really matter, as Ramirez was never gonna make the distance here, getting clobbered throughout until referee Gerald Ritter finally stepped in at 1:56 of the fourth round.
Ergashev had a devil of a time in February against Mykal Fox, getting a decision win that very well could have gone the other way with different judges, but Fox is a 6’4” junior welterweight. At a listed 5’10½”, Ergashev isn’t going to face too many guys who are going to tower over him that way. He’s a serious fighter on the rise and someone to keep an eye on if you aren’t already.
Arnold Khegai UD-8 Vladimir Tikhonov
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Super bantamweight Khegai (16-0-1, 1 KO) pretty well dominated this fight, winning on unanimous and correct scores of 80-72, as Tikhonov (17-2, 10 KO) was busier, but far less accurate and seemed far less interested in, like, actually winning the fight or doing damage. Tikhonov is a 29-year-old Russian who’s now 0-2 in the States, but he’s 3-0 in Estonia so he’s got that going for him. Khegai, a Ukrainian of Korean descent, is 27 and has been pretty good as a pro so far. He’s not a blue chipper or anything, but he can fight.