Grozny, Russia - Umar Salamov celebrated his Grozny homecoming with fireworks. The lanky fighter made easy work of Ghanaian Emmanuel Danso, stopping him at 2:44 of the third to retain his WBO International light heavyweight title.

Short and stocky Danso, though powerful (now 31-5, 28 KOs), was no match to the power and skill asset of the WBO #4 /IBF #6 / WBA #10 rated contender. Salamov softened up Danso in the first before rocking him badly with a right hand in the closing seconds.

The Chechen continued to dominate in the second. In the third he first dropped the smaller African with two consecutive right hands. Then closed the show on another right hand. Salamov is now 25-1, 19 KOs.

WBO #8 super middleweight Aslambek Idigov was forced to work very hard to overcome tough resistance of Czech and Slovakian national champion Robert Racz (21-2, 19 KOs). He got the job done through sweat and pain, scoring a unanimous decision – 98-94, 97-93, and 98-92 – and thus retaining his WBO European and IBF European 168lb titles.

Idigov, 23, was the one who pressed forward early on, trying to overwhelm Racz. The Slovakian was up for the task, countering Idigov hard every time he found an opening.

Idigov was rocked a couple of times in the opening rounds but prevailed just narrowly through his pressure and ultimately desire to prevail. As rounds went by, Idigov got more successful and used finesse he lacked early on to frustrate capable and durable but slow opponent. Racz still was dangerous but his offensive outbursts got less frequent by the end of the fight.

Well-known Chechen martial arts practitioner Abdul-Kerim Edilov debuted as a prizefighter, completely annihilating Brazilian heavyweight journeyman Irineo Beato Costa Junior (19-18, 17 KOs) within a minute or so.

Edilov dropped Coast Junior twice in the process, delighting Chechen president RamzanKadyrov, who was watching the contest of his friend live.

Very hard-hitting heavyweight Apti Davtaev (18-0-1, 17 KOs) retained his WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental title for the first time, destroying American import Daniel Martz (18-8-1, 15 KOs) within sixty-nine seconds.

Davtaev dropped Martz with what was ruled a shot to the back of the head seconds into the fight. Then Martz was dropped again – now with a legal punch.

And, finally, after he has got up, Davtaev has finished him off in the corner with a straight right hand bomb.

For years – ever since the retirement of the hard-hitting, long-reigning world champion Yuri Arbachakov in 1997 – Russia has been seeking for a dominant flyweight. Chances were that local flyweight Mehdi Abdurashedov could at least try to follow the legendary champion in his giant footsteps… Yet South African Jackson Chauke (19-1-1, 14 KOs) was of a different opinion, as he scored an upset unanimous decision over Abdurashedov to snatch Mehdi’s WBC International flyweight title on his home turf.

The 20-year old, who was midst into his school years, when Chauke started his recent kayo series, started fast, working off the South African’s body and being very aggressive. Chauke, 34, was, taking his time, looking for angles for his shots and room for his moves. Abdurashedov tried to prevent him from doing so but Chauke was very rational, sustaining gross pressure with little damage.

From round three, Chauke started to use uppercuts to keep Abdurashedov at bay. He landed multi-shot combinations, while Abdurashedov – to the somewhat gross dismay of his coach Andrey “Bupas” Ivichuk – preferred to utilize his head as his primary line of defense. Abdurashedov was always in the fight, tried his best and snatched some rounds at the end – like in the fourth and in the ninth – but Jackson Chauke ultimately prevailed with solid body shots and head blows.

Abdurashedov, still a work in progress, who debuted in 2017, goes down to 6-1, 3 KOs. Chauke, also South African national champion, had stopped his previous eight opponents.

2016 Russian Olympian Adlan Abdurashidov (3-0, 2 KOs) followed two first-round blowouts against lesser opposition with a wide unanimous decision in a huge career step against former WBA lightweight champion Paulus Moses of Namibia. Scores were identical: 100-90 – for the fighter from the Chechen Republic.

Abdurashidov boxed partially on distance and partially with frenetic spurts inside Moses’ fire range. The 41-year old veteran was unable to cope with his younger foe’s speed and reflexes, failing to counter in time and eating punches in bunches. Moses showed trademark durability and very rare splashes of former skills and poise but losing almost every minute of every round nevertheless. Abdurashidov captured an interim WBC Asia Silver light welterweight belt in process but failed to score a desired stoppage, he has very aimed at in later rounds. Moses is down to 40-6, 25 KOs.

Super middleweight Apti Ustarkhanov engaged into a rough fight versus lanky Namibian Lukas Ndafoluma (16-3, 7 KOs) for the interim WBC Asia Continental title and came out a winner with a split decision over ten rounds of action.

Ndafoluma was very aggressive early on, throwing multiple but lightly set combinations and troubling the Chechen boxer. Once Apti has found his distance, the pendulum swung into his favour, especially when he landed hard body shots. Sometimes he landed the them way too south, resulting in stern warning by referee Irakli Malazonia but no deducted points. The Namibian was willing to trade up until the final bell, both fighters fighting on even terms at the end. Two judges had it 97-93 – for Ustarkhanov, while the third scored it 96-95 – for Ndafoluma. Ustarkhanov is now 17-3-3, 4 KOs.