Chilemba Stopped in Second

Isaac Chilemba suffered his tenth career defeat when Aleksei Papin knocked him out in the second round of their cruiserweight fight at Ledovaya (Ice) Arena in Balashikha, Russia. Chilemba initially fought well, but Papin's weight and power advantages proved too much to overcome.

At yesterday's weigh-in, Chilemba tipped the scales at 184.3 pounds, the second heaviest of his career. Papin stood 199.5 pounds, around his normal weight.

Chilemba began the fight cautiously and ceded control of the center to Papin. The Malawian used stab jabs to the head and body while adroitly ducking Papin's counter attempts. The Russian struggled to figure out Chilemba's shoulder roll defense while Isaac added straight rights to the head and body by the end of the round.

Isaac won the first, but ominous clouds swirled over the round. Papin only landed a couple of jabs, but they physically pushed Chilemba a couple of steps backwards. It was clear Chilemba needed to be perfect for eight rounds just for the Russian judges to rip him off while Papin only needed to land the right shot to close the show.

Chilemba threw clever combinations to start the second round, but he didn't possess the power to dissuade Papin's punches. Isaac blocked a right, but the force of the blow knocked him backwards. Chilemba soon fell to the ropes, an ugly bit of foreshadowing for the veteran. He managed to get out of dodge that time, but his good fortune wouldn't last long.

In center ring, Papin launched a right uppercut-left hook combination that wobbled Chilemba. Isaac stammered back as Papin shot a hard right behind the ear. Isaac collapsed into the ropes while Papin followed. He repeatedly looped rights that were mostly blocked by Chilemba's left arm, so Papin adjusted. He went back to the right uppercut-left hook combination that started the trouble for Chilemba. That proved to be right move.

Chilemba had only been stopped once before in his career and that was due to an injury against Olexandr Gvozdyk. The combination cut Chilemba down to the canvas and the fight was quickly stopped. Regardless, Isaac couldn't have beaten the count.

Chilemba is now 27-10-3 with 11 KOs. Papin is now 17-1 (1 no contest) with 16 KOs.