By James Slater: Last night in Las Vegas, on the under-card of the Ada Velez-Melinda Cooper IBF female super-bantamweight rematch (won once again by Velez, this time via 10-round majority verdict), unbeaten Russian heavyweight hope Magomed “Mago” Abdusalamov kept his perfect pro record with an impressive 3rd-round stoppage of Rich Power.
30-year-old Abdusalamov who calls Oxnard, California his home these days, improved to 12-0(12) with the win over the previously un-stopped Power, now 15-2(11). The southpaw giant who claims to have “hands like shovels,” put Power down in the 3rd, the fight continued for a while after the 32-year-old bravely beat the count, and then Abdusalamov blasted his man with more hard shots, prompting the ref to dive in at the 2 minutes and 21-second mark.
Abdusalamov, managed by Sampson Lewkowicz, is beginning to build a substantial fan base. Heavy-handed as he says, the Russian is also an accurate puncher with decent hand speed. We know next to nothing about “Mago’s” chin and stamina thus far, but so far he does look like he could be the real deal. Power represented a tiny step up in quality of opposition, having only lost one previous pro outing, that on points to heavily-hyped British giant Tyson Fury who Power took the full eight rounds last September.
Okay, Power is no top contender, but for Abdusalamov to have ploughed through him the way he did deserves at least a little respect. Sampson Boxing think they have found a new heavyweight KO star. Maybe they have. Another promising sign from Abdusalamov is the fact that the 6’3” 230-pounder is staying busy and active. Next set to box on Dec. 16th, again in Las Vegas, Abdusalamov will have fought four times since October 1st of this year.
Now that he has made his Vegas debut, Magomed will hopefully continue to up the level as far as his competition goes. It will be most interesting to see who he fights next month, on the Marco Antonio Rubio-Mohamad Said middleweight bout. With ten 1st-round KO’s to his name already, Abdusalamov is clearly a heavyweight worth keeping an eye on.