Featherweight Hasibullah Ahmadi remained unbeaten Friday night, defeating Rauf Aghayev by unanimous decision at the Conrad Hotel in his adopted hometown of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Scores were 98-94, 97-93, and 99-91 the for Afghanistan-born Ahmadi, who improves to 13-0, 4 knockouts. 

Ahmadi put Aghayev (31-11, 14 KOs) on the defensive from the opening bell, connecting with left hooks and rights crosses to the head. It did not look good during the first two rounds for the Azerbaijan-born fighter, but Aghayev was able to survive rocky stretches of the fight to fight back. Aghayev did have some good moments midway through the bout, but Ahmadi mostly dictated the action, outboxing and landing the more-effective punches.

“My opponent was very tough and experienced so I’m happy to win the fight and make my people proud in Afghanistan,” said Ahmadi. “I will now talk to the team and will see how we go from here.”

Aghayev has now lost his last four bouts after winning his previous five.

In a clash of unbeaten lightweights from Thailand, Apichet Petchmanee defeated Phumiritdet Chonlathondamrongkun over 10 one-sided rounds. All three judges scored the bout 100-90 for Petchmanee, who improves to 10-0, 2 KOs.

The 19-year-old Chonlathondamrongkun (7-1, 7 KOs) was game, but Petchmanee was the more-effective fighter, utilizing his skill-set to make Chonlathondamrongkun miss and counter with his own punches. 

In welterweight action, Faizan Anwar of India overcame a knockdown to defeat gatekeeper Ricky Sismundo (35-16-3, 17 KOs) by unanimous decision. No scores were announced, as Anwar goes to 8-0, 4 KOs. 

In a minor upset on paper, middleweight Shalva Guchmazovi of the country of Georgia improved to 4-6-2, 3 KOs by stopping England’s Ryan Aston (20-6-2, 8 KOs) in round 2. Friday marked Aston’s first fight in over three years.

Former amateur standout Khurshid Tojibaev of Uzbekistan knocked out Georgia’s Achiko Odikadze (22-18-1, 8 KOs) in round 5 to improve to 5-0, 3 KOs. 

The card was promoted by D4G Promotions and was streamed live in the United States on ESPN+ and on ESPN Knockout throughout Latin America. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing

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