Congolese Ilunga Makabu defeated tough Russian prospect and previously undefeated Aleksei Papin, to retain his WBC Silver Cruise title, in Chelyabinsk, Russia

In a big showdown, Papin, who had accumulated 10 knockouts out of his 11 professional fights, faced the dangerous puncher, Makabu.

Papin, 31, is considered as one of Russia’s best prospects, while Makabu has proved to be one of the finest  fighters in his division, defeating his rival on his own home turf.

Mukabu’s proved an elusive target with plenty of  head and shoulders movement, to avoid Papin’s blows.

Papin, the less experienced man seemed to run out of ideas against a more technical fighter, who reached  a good combat pace in the middle portion of the fight.

Although the match was close, Makabu always showed superiority by frustrating his rival’s attacks.

In the final round, Makabu stalked and managed to knock down Papin, who incredibly managed to stand up, to furiously counterattack driving  Makabu to a corner to punish him. But it was too little too late  to defeat the WBC Silver champion.

The judges scored 114-114, 115-113, 115-113, so  Makabu won a majority decision victory, edging him appreciably closer to another opportunity to contest for the WBC cruiserweight title.