What a Russian

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 10:09 a.m.

Kassim Ouma took a hard fall from the top of boxing's junior middleweight division Thursday night, losing his IBF world championship belt to unheralded Roman Karmazin by unanimous decision at the Orleans Arena.

Karmazin, of St. Petersburg, Russia, knocked Ouma down twice in the third round, nearly finished off the champ with a furious rally and went on to win by scores of 118-108, 116-110 and 117-109 on the judges' cards.

"Ouma talks a lot," Karmazin (34-1, 21 knockouts) said afterward. "He brings a lot of attention to himself. I knew it was a lot of hype."

Karmazin, 32, built his impressive record fighting primarily in Russia and elsewhere in Europe but had little name recognition in the United States.

The IBF's No. 1 contender and Ouma's mandatory opponent, Karmazin was coming off a majority-decision victory against Keith Holmes in April -- a bout that gave him a shot of confidence heading into the showdown with Ouma.

"I knew I was going to win the fight," said Karmazin, whose lone loss came to Javier Castillejo in Spain in 2002. "My prior fight with Holmes was much tougher. Holmes is a much stronger, more difficult opponent."

A former top-ranked contender by the WBC, Karmazin was once scheduled to fight Oscar De La Hoya, a bout that was called off when De La Hoya sustained a hand injury.

In a twist of fate, Ouma now fights for De La Hoya under his Golden Boy Promotions banner, which presented Thursday night's card.

"I made a promise to myself before the fight that if I lost to Ouma I would retire," Karmazin, a 4 1/2-1 betting underdog, said. "I told myself if I lost to a boxer with the talent of Ouma, I should retire."

Karmazin said he'll seek fights against boxing's big names at middleweight or junior middleweight but would also entertain a rematch against Ouma.

"I only want an opportunity to fight the best," he said. "If (Ouma) wants to fight me again, he would be making a big mistake."

Ouma, a 26-year-old left-hander from Uganda, looked somnolent in the first two rounds then found himself in serious trouble in the third. Karmazin first sent Ouma to the canvas with a hard left to the body, then dropped him a second time with a flurry of punches capped by a straight right.

Ouma recovered to steal a couple of the middle rounds but Karmazin put it away late, sweeping Rounds 10 through 12 on the Sun's scorecard, which had Karmazin winning the fight 117-109.

"Kassim never made any adjustments," said trainer Freddie Roach, who was helping out in Karmazin's corner.

Ouma said he did not take the challenger lightly, but blamed the uninspired performance on a lack of recent activity in the ring. His last fight came in January when he outpointed Kofi Jantuah in Atlantic City.

"I never underestimate nobody," Ouma (22-2-1, 13 KOs) said.

"I wanted to fight in March and I couldn't get a fight in March, you know? I wanted to fight in June and I couldn't get a fight then either. I wanted to be more active.

"I'm not ashamed of my game. I'll be back."

In a super welterweight bout on the undercard, Marco Antonio Rubio (29-2-1, 28 KOs) scored a second-round TKO against David Toribio (13-1).

Also on the undercard, Aaron Garcia (5-0, 2 KOs) stopped Carlos Mota (1-1-1) in a featherweight fight; and Ramiro Reduncindo (3-0, 1 KO) outpointed Moses Matuvo (2-7-3) at cruiserweight.

It was De La Hoya's first Las Vegas fight show as lead promoter and served as a stage-setter for Saturday's Bernard Hopkins-Jermain Taylor middleweight championship bout at the MGM Grand, also presented by Golden Boy Promotions (in association with DiBella Entertainment).