27 May 2022 – Gurgaon, Hope & Glory Boxing

Welterweight, 8 Rounds

Referee: Rahul Sharma ; Judges: Bhushan Rao | Anshul Dagar | Vinod Saini

Boxer Profile

The main fight of the evening was an 8 round contest in the Welterweight Division.

Roman Zakirov, 25 yrs, was making a comeback into ring after a hiatus of almost 3 years. His last fight was in December 2019 which he won by a 2nd round stoppage in Moscow. Zakirov, looked rusty and was slow to get off the blocks.

His opponent, Brendon Dennes from Zimbabwe, the reigning WBO African Superwelter Champion wasn’t really having the best time in the ring either.

Both boxers spent the early rounds gauging each others movements and hardly committing themselves. 

The entire fight was cagey and bereft of any solid action by either of the boxers.

It might be said, that Zakirov, controlled the pace of the fight and  possibly landed more body shots and hooks that connected in comparison to his Zimbabwean opponent. 

Dennes, had a good workrate and threw a lot of punches, but none of them caused much damage. Almost all the jabs and combinations thrown by Dennes landed on the solid guard put up by the Azeri Zakirov. 

A largely forgettable fight from both boxers. 

In the end, the decision went to the scorecards of the 3 judges and Roman Zakirov was declared the winner by Majority Decision.

Judges Scores: Bhushan Rao (79- 73) | Anshul Dagar (77- 75)   | Vinod Saini (76- 76)