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Two World Boxing Federation
Intercontinental title fights
are set for Saturday March 17 at
the Fitnessclub Sportlife in
Kiev, as undefeated Ukrainians
Vitali Kopylenko and Vasyl
Tarabarov clash for the vacant
Middleweight crown, and Timur
Akhundov faces Hungarian Arpad
Vass for the vacant
Featherweight title.
Switzerland-based Vitali
Kopylenko, 16-0 (7), will be in
his first championship bout as a
professional, and will fight in
his country of birth for the
first time since his
professional debut in 2008.
Tarabarov, 22-0-1 (8), on the
other hand has several title
fights under his belt.
Vasyl Tarabarov was born in
Smolensk, Russia in 1981, but
later relocated to Ukraine and
made his professional debut at
nineteen years of age. In 2002
he captured Youth and
Intercontinental titles in only
his eights paid bout, and the
following year he added another
regional strap to his
collection.
In 2006 Tarabarov won the
Ukrainian national title, and
while it has only amounted to
four fights since then he is now
determined to win his fourth
championship and rejuvenate his
career with a victory over his
28-year-old countryman on March
17.
Timur Akhundov, 12-2-1 (4), will
also, just like his opponent, be
going for his first professional
title in the co-feature. After a
rough start to his career where
he went 4-2 in his first six
outings, he has since gone
undefeated in ten bouts, facing
tough veterans such as Andrei
Kostin, Suat Laze and Mamed
Yadgarov.
Arpad Vass, 8-3 (6), from
Budapest is a live underdog
against Akhundov, and is a
dangerous opponent with his
considerable punching-power. His
tree losses came against Luke
Wilton (9-2-1), former European
title-challenger Andriy
Kudryavtsev (37-9), and former
British and Commonwealth
champion Stephen Smith (12-1),
so he has been in with
championship caliber boxers
before.
The Kopylenko vs. Tarabarov and
Akhundov vs. Vass WBF
Intercontinental title
double-header will be promoted
by Oleg Bruskov, and is shaping
up to be an interesting night of
boxing in the Ukrainian capital.
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