# Artur Akavov

Artur Akavov (born 14 December 1985) is a Russian professional boxer who has challenged twice for the WBO middleweight title in 2016 and 2019.

## Professional career

Akavov boxed at various European national championships as an amateur before turning professional. In May 2014, Akavov won the minor WBO European title and went on to defend it three times.

### Akavov vs. Saunders

Akavov had a record of 16-1 by 2016 and obtained a top ten ranking by the WBO, which eventually led to his opportunity to fight for a world title. The WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders was under pressure to make the first defence of the title he'd won by defeating Andy Lee almost a year previously. A hand injury to Saunders and two cancelled defences earlier in the year lead to Akavov being offered the fight, with the fight originally scheduled to take place on 22 October at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. A muscle injury to Saunders then meant the fight was rescheduled for 26 November, before visa issues for Akavov caused the fight to be put back a further week to 3 December and the venue changed to the Paisley Lagoon Centre near Glasgow, Scotland.
The fight was fairly close for the first six rounds, with Saunders coming on strong for the next four rounds which seemed to tire him somewhat for the last two. Saunders claimed a unanimous decision after the full twelve rounds to retain his title, with the three judges scoring it 116-112, 116-113 and 115-113 in his favour. After the fight Saunders apologised to his fans, describing his performance as "flat" and "terrible". Many observers felt the decision could have gone either way, with the CompuBox final punch stats stating that Saunders landed 82/579 of punches to Akavov's 81/624, with both fighters outlanding the other in six rounds each.

### Akavov vs. Andrade

On 18 January, 2019, Akavov challenged for the WBO middleweight title for the second time in his career, this time against Demetrius Andrade. Andrade outboxed Akavov through most of the fight. Early in the final round, the referee decided to wave the fight off and award Andrade the TKO victory.

### Akavov vs. Falcao

On 20 February, 2021, Akavov fought Esquiva Falcao. Falcao was ranked #5 by the WBO and the IBF and #8 by the WBC at middleweight. Falcao beat Akavov by technical knockout in the 4th round.

## Professional boxing record

| 24 fights | 20 wins | 4 losses |
| By knockout | 9 | 2 |
| By decision | 11 | 2 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 24 | Loss | 20–4 | Esquiva Falcão | RTD | 4 (10), 3:00 | Feb 20, 2021 | MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. | |
| 23 | Win | 20–3 | Sergei Melis | TKO | 5 (8), 1:56 | Oct 18, 2019 | Olymp Maardu-Kalev, Maardu, Estonia | |
| 22 | Loss | 19–3 | Demetrius Andrade | TKO | 12 (12), 2:36 | Jan 18, 2019 | Hulu Theater, New York City, New York, U.S. | For WBO middleweight title |
| 21 | Win | 19–2 | Gonzalo Gaston Coria | UD | 10 | May 12, 2018 | Arena Riga, Riga, Latvia | Won vacant WBO International middleweight title |
| 20 | Win | 18–2 | Jean Carlos Prada | KO | 1 (8), 0:55 | Mar 24, 2018 | Sport Hall Energia, Narva, Estonia | |
| 19 | Win | 17–2 | Josue Obando | SD | 8 | Apr 22, 2017 | Celebrity Theater, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. | |
| 18 | Loss | 16–2 | Billy Joe Saunders | UD | 12 | Dec 3, 2016 | Lagoon Leisure Centre, Paisley, Scotland | For WBO middleweight title |
| 17 | Win | 16–1 | Todd Manuel | TKO | 6 (8), 0:37 | Mar 30, 2016 | BB King Blues Club & Grill, New York, U.S. | |
| 16 | Win | 15–1 | Freddy Lopez | TKO | 2 (8), 2:04 | Nov 20, 2015 | Aviator Sports Complex, Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | |
| 15 | Win | 14–1 | Michel Mothmora | UD | 12 | Jun 12, 2015 | A Le Coq Sports Palace, Tartu, Estonia | Won vacant WBF World middleweight title |
| 14 | Win | 13–1 | David Makaradze | TKO | 7 (12), 0:20 | Mar 21, 2015 | Tondiraba Ice Hall, Tallinn, Estonia | Retained WBO European middleweight title |
| 13 | Win | 12–1 | Sebastian Skrzypczynski | TKO | 4 (12), 0:22 | Feb 13, 2015 | Ice Palace, Pskov, Russia | Retained WBO European middleweight title |
| 12 | Win | 11–1 | Sandor Micsko | KO | 4 (12), 2:47 | Oct 31, 2014 | SuperClub, Pskov, Russia | Retained WBO European middleweight title |
| 11 | Win | 10–1 | Ivan Jukic | KO | 2 (12), 1:23 | May 15, 2014 | SuperClub, Pskov, Russia | Won vacant WBO European middleweight title |
| 10 | Win | 9–1 | Marat Khuzeev | KO | 1 (8), 1:15 | Nov 30, 2013 | SuperClub, Pskov, Russia | |
| 9 | Win | 8–1 | Bekzod Yunusov | UD | 10 | Apr 27, 2013 | Gigant Hall Parakhod, Pskov, Russia | |
| 8 | Win | 7–1 | Evgeny Meshkov | UD | 6 | Nov 24, 2012 | SuperClub, Pskov, Russia | |
| 7 | Win | 6–1 | Dmitry Pankratov | UD | 6 | Jul 14, 2012 | Gigant Hall Parakhod, Pskov, Russia | |
| 6 | Loss | 5–1 | Oleg Liseev | UD | 8 | Apr 4, 2012 | Crocus City Hall, Krasnogorsk, Russia | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Sergey Sergeev | UD | 6 | Oct 8, 2011 | Typhoon Club, Saint Petersburg, Russia | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Andrey Tylilyuk | UD | 6 | Jul 26, 2011 | Circus, Sochi, Russia | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Gevorg Akopyan | UD | 4 | May 27, 2011 | Typhoon Club, Saint Petersburg, Russia | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Sherkhomil Rakhimov | UD | 4 | Apr 16, 2011 | Typhoon Club, Saint Petersburg, Russia | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Andrey Korzhenevsky | UD | 4 | Mar 4, 2011 | Typhoon Club, Saint Petersburg, Russia | |