Sultan Zaurbek vs Ronnie Clark and the Return of Tursynbay Kulakhmet to Stream Live on ESPN+

Many of Kazakhstan’s bright young stars will be highlighted this Saturday, July 10 at Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In the main event, Kazakh southpaw dynamo Sultan Zaurbek will battle Scotland’s Ronnie Clark in a 10-rounder for the vacant WBO European junior lightweight title.
 
Zaurbek-Clark will headline a scheduled six-fight stream live and exclusively on ESPN+ starting at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT.
 
Zaurbek (10-0, 7 KOs) went 6-0 in 2019 and fought only once in 2020, a one-sided decision over Ukraine’s Vladyslav Melnyk in December. He broke through in December 2019 when he won the WBC Youth 130-pound title with a fourth-round stoppage over China’s Leshan Li. Clark (21-4-2, 10 KOs) is a 10-year pro who has not lost since challenging Martin Ward for the British junior lightweight title in 2016. He last fought in February 2018, knocking down the previously undefeated Zelfa Barrett en route to a majority decision win. A variety of issues kept Clark out of the ring, but he returns with hopes of springing another upset. 
 
In the 10-round junior middleweight co-feature, 2019 World Championships bronze medalist Tursynbay Kulakhmet (3-0, 2 KOs) will continue his world title charge against Russian veteran Aleksei Evchenko (19-14-2, 8 KOs). Kulakhmet, a 27-year-old southpaw, turned pro last summer with a fourth-round knockout over former amateur star Sagadat Rakhmankul and won the WBC International title in his second pro fight. Evchenko, who is 1-1-1 in his last three bouts, has only been knocked out once in a 15-year pro career.

Lightweight Nurtas Azhbenov (11-0, 4 KOs), a 26-year-old southpaw from Kandyagash, Kazakhstan, will face former world title challenger Isa Chaniev (14-3, 6 KOs) in a 10-rounder. Chaniev is 1-1 since a second-round TKO loss to Richard Commey in 2019 for the vacant IBF lightweight world title.

In an eight-round welterweight battle, 2018 Youth Olympic Games silver medalist Talgat Shayken (4-0, 2 KOs) will fight durable Russian trial horse Alexander Sharonov (12-5-2, 6 KOs), who has never been stopped in the paid ranks.

Ivan Dychko (9-0, 9 KOs), who won Olympic super heavyweight bronze medals for Kazakhstan in both 2012 and 2016, will face 22-year pro Denis Bakhtov (39-18, 26 KOs) in a scheduled eight-rounder. Dychko recently spent time in camp with WBC and lineal heavyweight world champion Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury.

Dauren Yeleussinov (8-1-1, 7 KOs) will look to bounce back from his first career loss against Arman Rysbek (7-1, 6 KOs) in an eight-round super middleweight tilt.

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Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.