Boxing
Updated: December 6, 2006, 4.15 PM ET
Drozd stops Suda on cuts,
wins Inter-Continental belt
By Larry Holman
ESPN.com
Archive
On Saturday night Russian fight fans were celebrating after Igor Berezutskiy stunned Germany's Marko Friedrich with a 5th round one-punch knockout to claim the IBF's heavyweight title. Another dose of championship glory came to Moscow this afternoon (US time) when Grigory Drozd defeated Lubos Suda of the Czech Republic by TKO in the 12th to win the International Boxing League's junior-heavyweight Inter-Continental belt. Though not on quite the same level as a world championship Drozd's triumph was just as hard earned as he battled Suda through an exciting twelve rounds. Drozd suffered a cut under his right eye in round two but it was a cut that Suda sustained on the inside of his left eyebrow in the 5th that ultimately led to the fight being stopped.
Referee Sergey Krupenich halted the contest two minutes into round eleven to allow the ringside doctor to examine the cut. The bout continued but not for much longer as Drozd targeted the wound early in the final frame, leading to an alarming stream of blood trickling down Suda's face. This time the Czech Republic native was out of luck and the bout was called off at the 0:59 mark. Suda had made a fantastic, dominant start through the opening two rounds before Drozd rallied brilliantly to take the 3rd, 4th and 5th convincingly. Round six was uneventful but when Suda controlled the 7th and then sent Drozd to the canvas with a left hook two minutes into round eight he appeared to be on his way to victory. He maintained the momentum through the 9th before Drozd gave the parochial Krylia Sovetov crowd renewed hope with some punishing work in round ten.
Round eleven had been an even affair up to the point when Krupenich intervened. Sensing danger Suda ended the round confidently but one minute into the 12th a certain victory was taken from him and he protested passionately to no avail. Suda held a 105-103 lead on all three scorecards heading into the last round. However, it must be said that the cut Drozd had inflicted upon him was a particularly nasty one and if the fight had continued a handful of well-targeted punches could have made it disasterous for Suda's future prospects. Drozd is now 21-4-1(15) while Suda fell to 21-3-1(14). Drozd will defend the title for the first time against Ireland's Tom Sharkey next month after the Dundalk-born pocket-rocket stopped Germany's Markus Bott late in round nine of their co-feature elimination bout.
In a real slugfest the two combatants traded some absolute haymakers before Sharkey floored Bott twice in the 9th, referee Juergen Langos stopping the fight with the German on his way down for a third time at the 2:49 mark. The explosive Sharkey (16-1-1(14)) will no doubt be a difficult proposition for Drozd to handle. All three of his IBL victories have come via stoppage. However, he did receive a fearful beating from Suda in the tournament semi-finals which is something that Drozd's camp will draw confidence from. The title fight will take place in the final week of January, with an exact date yet to be set.
Larry Holman is ESPN.com's boxing writer.