Dalakian Rocks, Drops, Stops Concepción, Retains WBA Flyweight World Title in Ukraine, Wants to Unify

By Carlos Costa

Ukrainian WBA Flyweight World Champion Artem Dalaikan (21-0, 15 KO’s) repeatedly decked and knocked out in nine chapters his brave, coming-forward challenger Luis “El Nica” Concepción for a successful 5th defense of his black n’ golden world strap today Saturday, November 20, at the ACCO International Center in Kiev, Ukraine.

Back-pedaling from a distance to keep the hard-hitting Concepcion at bay, as well as clinching and holding to neutralize his opponent, the smart 34-year-old Dalaikan was able to completely dominate the veteran former champion, flooring his foe several times during the exciting, intense battle that did not disappoint at all.

The continuous retreating on the part of Dalakian, as well as his reiterated clinching and holding might not have looked that attractive as a fighting style, but it was surely absolutely 100% effective, fulfilling its purpose of winning the war in awesome fashion.

Notably, even after dropping Concepción, Dalakian did not go all out in an attempt to finish matters right there.

Instead, he maintained his composure and cold head, opting to keep a distance, sticking to his working game plan, taking advantage of the damaged Concepcion till his corner intervened throwing-in the towel.

Indeed, thankfully, Concepción’s coach – former boxer Juan Mosquera – took the appropriate action of halting matters sparing his fighter of further punishment.

With his dominating performance, the Ukrainian world champion born in Azerbaijan reaffirms himself as one of the best 112-pounders in the Planet, keeping alive his ultimate personal goal in boxing, which is of unifying the Flyweight division, the weight-class where he has been WBA belt-holder since early 2018.

Dalakian’s promoter, veteran man of boxing Yuriy Ruban of Ukraine’s Union Boxing, also shares the same desire, wanting to see his undefeated champion in hot unification rumbles.

How would the skilled Artem Dalakian do in battle against warriors like unbeaten British world champion Sunny Edwards, tough Japanese Junto Nakatani or versus the popular hard-swinging Mexican WBC Champion Julio César “El Rey” Martínez?

Dalakian vs Concepción was seen live in Latin America on ESPN Knockouts and in Eastern Europe on Megoo.

The author Carlos Costa is a veteran fight writer with a lifetime passion for the sport of boxing Carlos can be reached at carlos512@hotmail.com or WhatsApp: +639184538152.