Shohjahon Ergashev (13-0, 12 KOs) scored a unanimous-decision victory over Zhimin Wang (10-3, 3 KOs) on the Daniel Jacobs-Muciej Sulecki undercard at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The official scores at ringside were 100-90 twice and 99-91. With the victory Ergashev picks up the WBA International Junior Welterweight title.
This was the first time Ergashev has gone the distance in his professional career after stopping the first twelve fighters he’s faced. The 26-year-old fighter from Uzbekistan who now trains full time at the Kronk Gym in Detroit was forced to work hard against the ultra durable Wang whose awkward style was diffcult for Ergashev to figure out.
The Uzbeki southpaw came out throwing bombs at Wang but the punches didn’t land with authority the same way Ergashev has in the past which resulted in his opponents hitting the canvas hard. Wang was allowed to hang in the fight frequent stretches of inactivity which drew boos from the Brooklyn crowd expecting to see a knockout.
By the sixth round Ergashev started to show frustration with Wang’s style and literally walked over to one of the corners and postured for the fighter from China to come forward. Wang politely declined and remained trued to landing a few shots and trying to catch Ergashev off balance.
Ergashev started to sense some urgency in the eight round and put his punches together to in an effort to stop Wang. Ergashev found success going to the body and hurt Wang twice in the eight and ninth round but the crafty Wang managed to survive.
Ergashev had a decorated amateur career winning over 200 bouts including one over fellow countryman Shakhram Giyasov who won the silver medal at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio.
Header photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
