Maxim Vlasov is a guy Ive been keeping an eye on for a while, love to watch his fights, and he had a great run on Friday Night Fights a while back! His KO over Jerson Ravelo was great, and he's shown great stamina, punching power (he has a deceptive approx. 50% KO ratio, but his power is much better than that would indicate), and boxing skills.
For what its worth, I saw the Chilemba/Vlasov fight, and as I recall I scored the fight a draw. Couple points from that which is that even though I scored a draw, I felt that score was slightly generous to the African. In other words, Im saying it was a draw or a Vlasov win. Another point on that is that Chilemba is quite a talented boxer (had a draw with Oosthuizen) and there's no shame in having a close fight with him.
Vlasov got screwed by the judges on a fight that at best for Chilemba was a draw.
I firmly believe that Maxim Vlasov has a lot of potential in this sport and he may be a future champion someday. But to realize that potential depends on how he is handled and matched.
He should win his next fight easily, but I notice that in April Vlasov (according to his BoxRec) is scheduled to be facing another white prospect Thomas Oosthuizen. Personally, Im not sold on Oosthuizen. But Oosthuizen is the logical favourite in that fight and if Im in Vlasov's team I wouldnt take that fight right now.
Vlasov needs 5 "easy" fights, 8 rounders against a couple soft touches then some decent journeymen. Then after those fights give him a top15ish fight. I dont think Oosthuizen is a good fight for him at this stage.
