A week past on Saturday, rising welterweight contender Qudratillo Abdukakhorov outpointed Laszlo Toth over 12 rounds at the One City Grand Ballroom, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Abdukakhorov (14-0, 9 knockouts) got off to a good start, outworking the game Hungarian to take an early lead. To Toth’s credit, he continued to look for openings but found himself behind on the WBC open-scoring after four and eight rounds.

The 24-year-old Uzbekistan fighter, who lives in Malaysia, was deduced a point in the 10th for an unintentional headbutt (as per WBC rules) but the scoring was academic by that point. Toth, knowing he was behind, pressed the action but it was too little too late and Abdukakhorov was awarded a unanimous decision: 118-109, 117-110 and 116-111.

“I was very much looking forward to this fight and it went well,” Adbukakhorov told RingTV.com through a translator. “He was tough and fought well. I hope I can move up further and face the best fighters soon.

“It is my dream to meet Keith Thurman for the WBC title. There are many other great fighters in this division, like Errol Spence, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter; it would be an honor for me to test my skills against them.”

It was also a good night for his Abdukakhorov’s stablemates: Azizbek Abdugofurov, Jasur Akhmadjanov and Ulugbek Sobirov who all posted impressive victories.

Vladimir Boxing Promotions owner Vikram Sivapragasam announced afterward that his next show will be in Uzbekistan on May 5.

“We have been looking at making a homecoming for the boys for a while – it will be a double header,” said Sivapragasam. “Aziz (Abdugofurov) will face Dmitry Chudinov at super middleweight and Qudratillo is going to face someone else.

“Uzbekistan is a country that loves boxing, but so far they only really know amateur boxing. In the WSB [World Series of Boxing] they sell out. Tthe people can’t get enough boxing and now they are going to see a big professional show.”

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter @AnsonWainwright

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