Undefeated Russian super middleweight Vladimir Shishkin turned in 10 workmanlike rounds against Ulises Sierra en route to a unanimous decision win at the WinnaVegas Casino & Resort in Sloan, Iowa (Salita Promotions).
Two of the judges scored it 99-91, while another had it 100-90, all in favor of 28-year-old Shishkin.
Shishkin (10-0, 6 KOs) worked behind a steady slew of 1-2 punches as he won nearly minute of every round against an otherwise cagey opponent. While Sierra (15-1-2, 9 KOs) was never truly hurt in the fight, he lacked the consistency and, perhaps, even desire to truly make it a competitive fight. Indeed, Sierra, who has served as a sparring partner for the world class likes of Canelo Alvarez, Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward, seemed content on this night to simply pick up a paycheck.
After a couple of close rounds, Shishkin, who lives in Detroit and trains at the Kronk Gym, began to separate himself from Sierra in Round 3, landing a barrage of right hands to the head and body. Sierra responded by shelling up behind a high guard. That would become a repeated pattern throughout the night.
In Round 5, Sierra landed his best combination in the fight with a left to the body and head that momentarily stalled Shishkin’s momentum. But Sierra eased off the pedal and settled back into his low-energy ways, as Shishkin came back to land several hard rights before the end of the round. From then on, it was all Shishkin, who was effective, if somewhat dull, with his straight right hand leads. He used his jab sparingly and his hook was largely nonexistent. Still, against the listless Sierra, the right hand would prove to be more than enough.
After the bout, it was reported that Shishkin had injured his left biceps prior to the fight, which may explain his limited offensive repertoire.
On the undercard, highly regarded Uzbek lightweight Shohjahon Ergashev barely broke a sweat, sending Adrian Estrella to the canvas in Round 1 with a crunching left hand to the right ribcage. Estrella writhed on the floor, grimacing in obvious pain, as referee Paul Perry counted him out.
The official time of stoppage was 1:32
Shohjahon Ergashev shows off his Insane power with a 1st round KO of Adrian Estrella to stay undefeated. #SHOBOX pic.twitter.com/z4DkVRpC3D
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) January 18, 2020
Ergashev, a stablemate of Shishkin, improves to 18-0,16 KOs. Estrella falls to 29-5, 24 KOs.
Also, undefeated junior bantamweight prospect Jarico O’Quinn decisioned Oscar Vasquez in an eight-rounder that was more competitive than what was reflected in the scorecards.
All three judges scored it 79-73 for the Detroit-based O’Quinn.
At the outset, O’Quinn (14-0-1, 8 KOs) got sucked into Vasquez’s preferred fight early on, on the inside. Vasquez (15-3-1, 3 KOs), Las Vegas, had the early momentum, bullying O’Quinn around the ring and landing some surprisingly clean overhand rights.
But O’Quinn began to get on track in Round 3, picking off Vasquez with quick counter while lying on the ropes. Few jabs were thrown by either man. O’Quinn used his superior size and speed to land frequent combination punches, even if they did not seem to visibly hurt the game Vasquez.
O’Quinn briefly flirted with a stoppage in Round 8 when he seemed to stun Vasquez for the first time in the fight with a straight right.
Originally, the fight was meant to be contested at the junior bantamweight limit, but both fighters both came in overweight.