The Russian beast trembled. Makhmudov suffered a sensational defeat by knockout

The Russian beast trembled. Makhmudov suffered a sensational defeat by knockout

Igor Nekrasov December 23, 2023, 21:46 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.

The German broke Arslanbek’s body and caused surprise.

A large-scale professional boxing tournament is being held in Saudi Arabia. The night’s card featured undefeated Russian heavyweight boxer Arslanbek Makhmudov, nicknamed the Lion (or, as the host of the tournament’s press conference called him, the Russian Beast). His opponent was the undefeated German Agit Kabayel.

Makhmudov is the best Russian heavyweight today. Arslanbek entered boxing quite late, at the age of 14: before that, Makhmudov was engaged in wrestling. Arslanbek acted as an amateur for a long time and even tried to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, but, failing to reach the Games, Makhmudov switched to professional boxing.

Online transmission of the tournament:

The tough Russian beast keeps the boxing world at bay. Makhmudov is ready to destroy even Fury

In the first three fights of his professional career, Arslanbek literally knocked down three Mexicans: in total, the Russian boxer spent just over two minutes on all three victories. After six consecutive victories, five of which came in the first round, Makhmudov began to have a chance of winning the title. Yes, they were minor belts, but Arslanbek won them and moved up the rankings. Only in the 15th fight in the professional ring Makhmudov could not finish off his opponent: the experienced Frenchman Carlos Takam was the first to reach a judge’s decision with Arslanbek, but he also lost.

In total, Makhmudov fought 18 fights in the professional ring and won them all. He finished 17 fights early, 12 in the first round. Fantastic statistics! Currently he is the best heavyweight in Russia and occupies a prominent place in the world rankings: Arslanbek is third in the WBC rankings, fourth in the WBA, seventh in the IBF and 14th in the WBO.

Agit Kabayel became Makhmudov’s next opponent. Before the fight with Makhmudov, the German boxer had an even more impressive record than the Russian – 23-0. Even though Kabayel is three years younger than Arslanbek, he made his professional debut in 2011. He spent most of his fights in his homeland and won them all. Of Kabayel’s 23 wins, 15 were early.

From the first minutes of the fight, Makhmudov began to occupy the center of the ring. Kabayel tried to circle the Russian and jab him, while Arslanbek invested in his trademark powerful punches. At the beginning of the second round, Makhmudov began to work more actively, acting in series, pinning his opponent to the ropes several times. Kabayel moved actively, counterattacked, punched the body and threw a jab.

Agit surpassed the Russian in speed and took advantage of this advantage. At the beginning of the third round, Kabayel already had the advantage, he hit hard in the series and Arslanbek had a hard time. For almost the entire three-minute period, Agit worked as number one, took many combination shots, and Makhmudov spent the entire round on defense. At the beginning of the fourth round, Makhmudov was knocked down: Kabayel accurately hit his body and Arslanbek fell to the ground. Makhmudov continued the fight and Agit continued finishing off the Russian. Once again Arslanbek was knocked down: the German hit the body again. Makhmudov continued the fight once again, but soon found himself on the ground again: another fall to the liver turned out to be the last, the referee stopped the fight and recorded the victory of Agit Kabayel. The German remains an undefeated boxer and Arslanbek Makhmudov suffered the first defeat of his career.