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Under the bright lights of the Traktor Ice Arena in Chelyabinsk, Russia, hometown fighter Elnur Samedov turned pressure into gold.
Samedov claimed the WBA Interim super featherweight World Title with an 11th-round TKO over Colombia’s John Lenon Gutierrez in a grueling battle defined by pace, persistence, and punishment.
From the opening bell, Samedov set a suffocating tempo. He cut off the ring with precision, took away Gutierrez’s escape routes, and forced the taller Colombian to fight at close quarters. Gutierrez tried to establish distance behind his reach advantage, but the Russian’s relentless pressure began breaking him down by the middle rounds.
The first major breakthrough came in the seventh. Samedov detonated a sharp combination that sent Gutierrez to the canvas for the first time. To his credit, the Colombian rose and showed tremendous grit, remaining competitive over the next few rounds despite absorbing heavy fire.
But in the eleventh, the dam finally broke.
Samedov unleashed a sustained assault, scoring another knockdown and trapping Gutierrez along the ropes with unanswered shots. Seeing no effective return and with the challenger defenseless, the referee stepped in to halt the contest.
With the victory, Samedov improves to 22-1 (11 KOs) and secures the black-and-gold strap. Gutierrez falls to 11-1, suffering the first defeat of his professional career in what was also his European debut.
