By Brad Snyder at ringside
Photos: Bob Ryder

Light heavyweight Umar Salamov (21-1, 16 KOs) scored a ninth round KO over Brian Howard (13-2, 10 KOs) on Friday night at the at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, Michigan. An uneventful eight rounds quickly changed in the ninth round. Salamov connected with a vicious right hook that landed cleanly that finished Howard, who fell into the ropes at the 53 second mark. The knockout win gives Salamov the IBF North American light heavyweight championship.

In a ten round light heavyweight fight, Aslambek Idigov (13-0, 5 KOs) unanimously defeated James Ballard (10-2, 3 KOs) by UD. Ballard, who appeared to injure his left hand, could not convince the judges to see many rounds his way, as the scores were (97-93, 100-90, 100-90).

Unbeaten super welterweight Leon Lawson (7-0, 4 KOs) scored a first round knockdown and a six round unanimous decision (60-53, 60-53, 60-53) over Javier Frazier (8-3-1, 4 KOs). Lawson used his size to control all the rounds against a much smaller Frazier.

Unbeaten welterweight Bakhtiyar Eyubov (14-0, 12 KOs) was crowned the USBA Great Lakes Region champion with his dominating performance over Nicholas Givhan (21-2-1, 11 KOs). Eyubov gave little space and beat up Givhan over seven rounds. The only thing not going Eyubov’s way, was a point deduction from being overly aggressive during a break by Referee Sam Williams. Givhan, who was holding, had the fight stopped, as Referee Sam Williams had seen enough.

Unbeaten bantamweight Ja’Rico O’Quinn (9-0-1, 6 KOs) got some target practice in as he beat down Yaqub Kareem (14-10-1, 1 KO) over four rounds. O’Quinn, after working the body, finally caught Kareem with a left and ended the bout with a right. Kareem got up only to stumble through the ropes. Time of the TKO was 1:10 of the fourth round.

Unbeaten welterweight Joseph Bonas (4-0, 4 KOs) knocked out Micheal Klekotta (1-3, 1 KO) with a devastating left to the head at 49 seconds of the first Round.

Unbeaten heavyweight Apti Davtaev (15-0-1, 14 KOs) easily defeated Cory Phelps (16-11-1, 8 KOs) at the 1:17 mark of the second round by TKO. Davtaev scored a knockdown in the first round and two knockdowns in the second round before referee Ansel Stewart stepped in and stopped the bout.