Jewish Boxers to Fight in Ukraine on Sunday for Worthy Cause

Both Igor Lazarev and Yotham Shalom are scheduled to take part in separate bouts on Sunday, October 27 in Odessa, Ukraine. The event is designed to help children with special needs. For more about that program and for an opportunity to contribute, you can click on this link.

Lazarev (4-0, 2 KOs) won a split decision victory over Leandro Xhelili less than a month ago. He is slated to participate in an eight round bout with Dmytro Kostenko, a 41 year old from Ukraine. Kostenko has fought in eight different countries but hasn't won in many of them. His record is an uninspiring 2-16-1. However, Kostenko defeated a 9-1 British fighter last year for one of his two victories, and the Ukrainian lightweight has never been stopped.

Shalom (1-0-1, one KO) is a featherweight who has fought twice in France including his last one on December 2, 2017. His opponent is scheduled to be Piotr Ghilas (0-1), a 29 year old from Moldova. This bout is scheduled for four rounds.

Tony Milch had been preparing to box in an exhibition match on the card, but he sustained a cut under his right eye in sparring last week. Nevertheless, Milch will be in Odessa helping out. He also has an update on his Gloves and Doves program, which you can read more about here.

Milch is raising funds for a boxing card that would bring a boxing team from London, England to Israel to face a team of Jews and Arabs. To learn more and contribute, you can click here.

Newcomers Miroslav Kapuler and Aki Azrael Mishaev are also penciled in to be on the card. Kapuler faces Artur Davydenko (1-4), a 19 year old welterweight from Ukraine.

Mishaev battles Gheorghi Croitor (0-2), a 22 year old lightweight from Moldova. Croitor was stopped in the third round by Lazarev last December. Both fights are scheduled for four rounds.

Sinakin is 5-0

Benjamin "Jewish Bulldog" Sinakin, a 22 year old light heavyweight from Philadelphia, defeated Ferris Golden at the Met in his hometown last Saturday night.

Sinakin earned a third round technical knockout against the 27 year old from Ohio. Sinakin is now 5-0 with three KOs. Golden is now 1-1.

Duer Falls to Juarez

Carolina Duer lost via unanimous decision to Mariana Juarez last Saturday night at the Convention Center in Fresnillo, Mexico. Though the decision ultimately went to the right woman, the bout was plagued with irregularities and pro-Juarez bias.

The 41 year old Duer turned back the clock fifteen years in the first three rounds and thoroughly outboxed the 39 year old Juarez. She threw educated combinations that often finished with an overhand right or a left hook to the body. Juarez tried to counter with her right and landed occasionally. Both fighters spent moments as southpaws, but Duer's switches seemed to be strategic, while Mariana's move to southpaw was reactionary. There were several butts during the first three rounds, and Juarez seemed to get the worse of them.

Juarez countered more effectively in the fourth round and was able to slip Carolina's charges in the fifth. Duer abandoned her boxing and traded with Juarez more as the fight progressed. That was the case in the sixth as Duer's punching form became sloppier. Juarez managed to pin Duer in a corner in the 7th.

Referee Donovan Boucher of Canada thought the ten-second clap was the bell, so the seventh round lasted only a minute and 50 seconds. Boucher's role became more dubious from that point forward. Juarez increasingly complained about Duer's periodic holding and the intermittent butts. Boucher continuously acquiesced to Juarez's complaints. He took a point for holding in the eighth and ended that round ten seconds early as well.

The ninth ended 50 seconds early, which made for a penultimate round of only a minute and ten seconds. This faux pas seemed to be the responsibility of the timekeeper as the bell rang at 1:10.

Duer returned to boxing in the final round as Juarez sat on her lead. She knew she was ahead because the WBC has open-scoring for non-U.S. bouts. Despite competing in 66 previous bouts, Juarez had a bad habit of throwing her hands up and shrugging whenever Carolina landed a clean punch, allowing everyone to know Duer had scored. Juarez shrugged more in the tenth than she had in the previous few rounds.

The judges scored the fight 98-91 (twice), and 97-94 for Juarez/ The JBB scored the fight 96-93 for Juarez. The Mexico City native moves to 54-9-4 with 18 KOs while Duer is now 19-6-1 with 6 KOs.