QUEBEC CITY – Guido Vianello upset Arslanbek Makhmudov in a meeting of heavyweight fringe contenders in the co-feature to Christian Mbilli-Sergiy Derevyanchenko at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Canada on Saturday.

Vianello (13-2-1, 11 knockouts) largely had things his own was until the doctor stopped the fight due to a grotesque swelling around Makhmudov’s left eye at the beginning of Round 8. The official time was two seconds into the eighth round.

“I am a contender now. I am ready for the world level, and I proved that tonight,” said Vianello.

“I just had to stay composed. There was a knockdown that wasn’t called, but I knew if I stuck to my strategy, I would get the knockout.”

The Italian started on the front foot and stayed there for the whole fight using his better speed of hand and foot to repeated hit and hurt Makhmudov (19-2, 18 knockouts). Vianello caught and hurt Makhmudov towards the end of the first round and the Russian born fighter stumbled back to his corner on unsteady legs.

Things didn’t get any better in the second round for Makhmudov. A jab snapped his head back and he continued to look unsteady as he was made to look cumbersome and was beaten to the punch.

The first moment of success from Makhmudov came in the third round when he landed a nice right hand. However, while previous opponents may have fallen, Vianello, a 2016 Olympian, held firm and clinched for a moment to let his head clear. He didn’t let Makhmudov gain momentum from that and fired back and had Makhmudov backed into a corner. 

The fight broke out into a fire-fight when both swung for the fences and landed good punches later in the third round. In the closing stages of the round Makhmudov’s eye had begun to swell and was looking particularly bad. 

Vianello boxed well in passages and stayed away from the wild, at times crude lunges of Makhmudov as the Russian-born fighters eye looked almost closed by the end of Round 5. Vianello also sported a diagonal cut on his right eye. 

Vianello knew he was ahead and dominating the action he kept the jab in Makhmudov’s face, that appeared to frustrate Makhmudov who was penalized a point for rabbit punching in the sixth.

The end was near, Vianello had a big seventh-round and hurt Makhmudov, who stumbled and touched down but the knockdown was missed by referee Albert Padulo Jr. it didn’t matter and maybe hindered Makhmudov more as he was getting repeatedly hit and hurt.

At the end of the round the doctor called Makhmudov over and told the referee to end the fight which he did. 

It was an excellent win for Vianello, who will be able to parlay this into something more meaningful but will be very difficult for Makhmudov to recover from.

“I thought I beat Efe Ajagba, and I came into this fight with a lot of confidence. I was in the best shape of my career, and that showed tonight. I dominated him and then knocked him out.”

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