In a Saturday night Sho-Box mega-mismatch for the IBO super middleweight bauble, Colombian Fulgencio Zuniga battered a previously unbeaten, albeit hapless, Victor Oganov over eight stanzas, before closing the show at 1:25 seconds mark of round nine.

Equally insulting, the underneath semi-final, a scheduled ten round junior middleweight pairing pitting age 23, hot prospect, power punching southpaw James Kirkland, with stranger Mohammad Said ten years his senior.

Opening bell it’s Kirkland on the attack - fifteen seconds into the round the man born in Jordan, raised in Brazil, and currently residing in Secaucus, New Jersey is on his derriere courtesy of left hand uppercut - no sooner upright is down again from right hand - somehow survives the stanza.

To give the guy his due he gave it his best in round two - scored with couple left hooks and right hands - but late in round a Kirkland left finds the mark -  Said shows good sense in staying on a knee for the full count. Time of knockout 2:32 seconds.

Post Scripts: James Kirkland ( 20-0, 17 KOs) ~ age 23 - good power, quick hands and works from port side. Weaned on pugilistic pabulum- is now ready to move up to more realistic challenges.
                       Mohammad Said ( 22-6-1, 14 KOs) ~ age 33 - arrived on four bout winning streak - scalps taken sported calling cards of 0-1, 5-54, 0-6, 0-9 - how about that for a qualifier.
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Then the main event of the evening - with commentators Nicky Charles and "Far out" Farhood drooling over the unknown factor - question needing answers is how real is this Victor Oganov - unbeaten in 26 priors with all arriving via knockout.

The opponent, Fulgencio Zuniga from Colombia, pretty much a known commodity with 19 wins, 2 losses a draw and 16 stoppages. Seen more a test for the one with "The Destroyer" sobriquet, than a budding contender at age 30.
  
Opens on what is best described as slapstick humor - one that would later close on more sinister note - Zuniga having the better, but is caught off balance and sent reeling backwards to the ropes - clown in charge Jeff Macalusa, blind to the obvious, jumps in to call it a standing eight count.

The Colombian shrugs off the missed call and quickly turns it around in stanza two - and the picture isn’t pretty - Zuniga the professional - and Organov of celebrated punching power - and what we have is a mismatch of mega proportions.

With each passing stanza it’s Zuniga with the skills and Oganov bankrupt in professional schooling - single positive is the early ability to eat leather while flailing away with a wild left hand from time to time.

Zuniga runs up a streak of six winning rounds over stanzas two thru seven - then Oganov captures round eight with the Colombian taking a breather from the earlier rat-tat-tat.

Finally, round nine and a picture perfect Zuniga left hook at close quarters and Oganov down - beats count but following barrage goes unanswered - is now a helpless entity against the ropes and slowly sagging to the canvas.

My count is close in counting 18 unanswered punches before the transplanted Australian via Sykyvkar, Russia falls to the haven of the canvas - slow reacting Macalusa then calls it off.

Goes into the books a Zuniga by TKO stanza nine.

Post Scripts: Francisco Zuniga (20-2-1, 17 KOs) ~ age 30 and pretty much where he’s at with IBO club fight strap the winning prize. Very decent skills but no valid threat at super middleweight champions the next rung of the ladder. Ideal test for  the new breed with visions of grandeur.

                       Victor Oganov (26-1, 26 KOs) ~ age 31 - forget the rap sheet - in style brings back memories of countless amateur Golden Gloves novice heavyweights - think maybe most the early knockout victims had Siberia political prisoner zip codes. All connected to this promotion needs a dose of community service.
                         
                       Referee Jeff Macalusa: less said the better - left coast clueless lunatic - obsessed over questionable assorted low blows, holding, while missing the serious intangibles as in when to call it no-mas. Letting some 18-20 unanswered power punches go until the victim collapses is unforgivable.
                   
                     Commentators Nick Charles-Steve Farhood ~ left the door open just a bit for opponent Zuniga - while mutually overheated in anticipation of seeing the celebrated punching power of Oganov, both hinted the onus more on the Russian than on Zuniga.  
                             
GEL  

9-1-2007