Vazquez decisions Shafikov to retain IBF title
IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez (34-3, 13 KO’s) made his first defence in 14 months and defeated previously-undefeated Russian Denis Shafikov (33-1-1, 17 KO’s) in winning by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.
The judges scores were 115-113, 116-112, 119-109.
Shafikov was just taking shots for the first 6 rounds of the fight and rarely throwing punches back at Vazquez.
In the 7th round, Shafikov started pressing the action more, which resulted in a number of head butts. Shafikov was able to land some good shots in the final five rounds of the fight, but Vazquez continued to hit him a lot more frequently. Vazquez tired a lot in the 2nd half of the fight due to the constant moving he was doing as well as the pressure that Shafikov was putting on him. Shafikov didn’t have the work rate in order to put Vazquez under serious pressure.
Right now it's hard to imagine any of the world's lightweights giving the Mexican technician much of an issue. He's simply a better pure boxer than anyone in the weight class, and there are no real standout pressure guys or power punchers.
Vazquez has only ever lost to Tim Bradley and Canelo Alvarez, twice. Bigger men in bigger weight classes, before he became as good as he is. Other than that, he's dealt with everyone that has come his way.
Also on the card, undefeated Zou Shiming (4-0, 1 KO’s) scored his first knockout of his career in stopping little known opponent Yokthong Kokietgym (15-4, 11 KO’s) in the 7th round of a scheduled 8 round fight.
Shiming knocked the 19-year-old Kokietgym down three times in the 7th to get the stoppage at 2:09 of the round.