by Pavel Yakovlev – This Saturday Uzbekistan’s Timur Ibragimov continues his campaign to penetrate the upper tier of the heavyweight ratings when he faces Awadh Tamim in Moscow. The bout is scheduled for 12 rounds.
Ibragimov (26-2-1; 14 kayos) has trained hard for the match. In recent weeks he sparred with Oliver McCall and Tony Thompson, with the Thompson sessions being particularly intense (the sessions lasted eight rounds at a time with 30 second rest periods). No doubt Ibragimov has drawn confidence from the fact that Thompson proved good enough to destroy Chazz Witherspoon in nine rounds just days after their sparring.
Little is known about Tamim (11-1; six kayos), other than that he is Tanzania’s top rated heavyweight. The only notable name on Tamim’s record is Denis Bakhtov, who stopped him in three rounds in 2007. In addition to being less experienced than Ibragimov, Tamim is the smaller of the pair: standing 6’0” and weighing 215 lbs., he is three inches shorter and ten pounds lighter than his foe.
Nonetheless, Ibragimov is not overlooking Tamim. “Any fighter who weighs over 200 lbs. can hit, so I don’t underestimate any of them,” notes the 34-year-old Uzbekistani..
Despite the obscurity his opponent, Ibragimov’s fight this Saturday is important in that it keeps him active in the ring. The Tamim fight will be Ibragimov’s third match in six months. Previously, Ibragimov’s career had gone into a nosedive due to inactivity caused by management and promotional problems.
There has been information to the effect that Saturday’s bout may be for a regional title of some sort, although ESB could not confirm this data at press time. In the event that ibragimov obtains a regional belt from one of the four major sanctioning organizations, he will reestablish himself in the worldwide top 20 rankings.
Prior to the beginning of his management and promotional problems in 2007, Ibragimov was ranked high by the WBA due to his victory over Timo Hoffman, who was the WBA’s 14th ranked contender at the time. For several years in the mid-‘00s, Ibragimov was also rated in the worldwide top 20 by the WBC because he held the WBC FECARBOX title.
Saturday’s event is promoted by Yuri Fedorov Sports Lab, which could emerge as an international promotional powerhouse in upcoming years (see Brett Forrest’s “Russia in the Boxing Ring,” Time Magazine, October 16, 2007). In 2007, Fedorov staged the WBO heavyweight championship match between Sultan Ibragimov and Evander Holyfield in Moscow. In addition to the main event, the promotion features matches involving world-rated bantamweight Alexander Bakhtin and the powerpunching heavyweight prospect Magomed Abdusalamov.
Bakhtin (23-0; ten kayos), who faces Nosirjon Rozimatov (6-3; no kayos) in the semi-final bout, is the most advanced of the boxers on Saturday’s card. Currently rated 3rd by the WBC, 4th by the WBA, and 6th by the IBF, Bakhtin has so far fought his entire career in Japan, where he dominated that country’s ultra-competitive bantamweight division. Bakhtin currently holds the OPBF bantamweight regional belt, and Saturday’s match will be his first as a professional in his native Russia.
Standing 5’7”, Bakhtin enjoys a height and reach advantage over most fighters in his weight class, and he puts these assets to excellent use. His left jab is fast, straight, and persistent, and he throws punches from either hand effortlessly. Bakhtin’s overall body movement is fluid, quick, and graceful. Defensively superb, Bakhtin slips punches with ease and is very light on his feet, always maintaining optimal distance between himself and his foes.
Although many observers would define Bakhtin’s style as that of a fluid, stand-up, European orthodox boxer, to this writer, Bakhtin looks more like the tall, brilliant-boxing fighters routinely produced in the 1980s by Manny Steward’s Kronk Boxing Gym in Detroit. There is definitely an element of “sugar” to Bakhtin’s sense of rhythm in the ring.
Bakhtin is definitely being scrutinized by the world’s most critical and authoritative boxing experts. In the past year, Graham Houston (www.fightwriter.com), Doug Fischer (www.ringtv.com), Dan Rafael (www.espn.go.com), Joe Koizumi (top Asian boxing journalist for nearly 40 years, associated with various publications) have mentioned Bakhtin’s name in their discussions of the world’s best bantamweights.
In a scheduled six round heavyweight bout, Dagestan’s Magomed Abdulasamov (6-0; six kayos) faces his toughest opponent to date in Raymond Ochieng (19-9; 16 kayos). Abdulasamov is reputed to be a brutal powerpuncher, and all six of his professional victories have come in the first round.
Standing 6’3” and weighing approximately 250 lbs., Abdusalamov is a southpaw. He won Russian national amateur championships in 2005 and 2006, and briefly after turning professional, he was associated with Leon Margulies’s Seminole Warriors Boxing promotional firm in Miami, USA.
Ochieng is a native of Kenya who stands 6’4” and weighs approximately 220 lbs. Although regarded as vulnerable – seven of his nine losses have been by kayo – Ochieng can definitely pack power in his blows. Thus, the Abdulasamov – Ochieng fight will likely feature suspense for as long as it lasts.
Saturday’s boxing card will held at the Aquarium Hotel at the Crocus Expo Center in Moscow. English speaking Russian fans, and Moscow-based American and English fans that first learned of the event through this article can obtain ticket information at http://www.ringstars.ru/