One of the most anticipated match-ups in the history of Muaythai takes place in the Russian city on Chelyabinsk, Russia, on 23 February when Thailand’s icon Kaoklai Kaennorasing defends his WBC MUAYTHAI Light Heavyweight Title against the Russian fighting superstar Artem Levin.

Kaoklai (26), regarded as a generational master champion of stand-up martial arts, faces a strong challenger in the outstanding Levin (25) who gets his WBC world title shot on home turf after notching an impressive record of 39 wins for only 3 loses. 29 of his wins come by way of KO. Levin is the Showtime champion and also the current champion of the World Martial Arts Games.

The event has been billed as a major sports fixture for Chelyabinsk with the city’s ice-hockey arena stadium being converted into a boxing stadium with the ice covered by a temporary warmed floor.

A special feature of the event will be the staging of the WBC Asian Boxing Council welterweight championship between Steven Maxwell (Australia) and Russian challenger Anton Novikov who won the youth world championship.
Three days later on February 26 there will be a six-man international tournament fought under WBC Muaythai rules and regulations. The scheduled bouts are as follows:

Russian Berdyev (Russia) versus Akhmed Saadi (Tunisia)
Igor Petrov (Russia) versus Chalermdit Infinity (Thailand)
Stanislav Popov (Russia) versus Rudienne Davis (Netherlands)

Source: WBC Muay Thai official site
Mirrors: thaiboxing.sk