Heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov (21-2, 19 KOs) pounded out a decisive 12-round unanimous decision victory over hometown fighter Dave Allen (24-8-2, 19 KOs), winning a 12-round unanimous decision in a mostly one-sided fight on Saturday night at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England.
It was a one-sided fight from start to finish. ‘The White Rhino’ Allen fought well enough to win two rounds in the fight, and that’s about it. He was at his best in rounds five and nine.
Allen, 33, wasn’t throwing much of anything in the first rounds, and was walking forward, getting hit with straight rights to the head from the big 6’5 1/2″ Makhmudov. In the seventh, the referee Steve Gray penalized Arslanbek a point for holding.
He’d already warned the big Russian about his holding before then, but he continued to do so. In the 12th, Gray penalized Makhmudov again for holding. That was going a little bit far, as he hadn’t held that much in the round.
The judges’ scores were 115-111, 116-110, and 117-109.
Undercard results
Junior middleweight Bilal Fawaz (10-1-1, 3 KOs) edged Junaid Bostan (10-1-1, 8 KOs), winning a 10-round majority decision to win the BBBofC English junior middleweight strap in a highly competitive fight.
It was a contest that could have gone the other way to Junaid or been scored a draw, as he basically fought Fawaz, 37, to a standstill, hurting him badly in the fourth, and landing the cleaner, harder punches in every round. The judges’ scores were 96-94, 96-95 for Fawaz, and 95-95.
Super featherweight Josh Padley (17-1, 5 KOs) defeated Reece Bellotti (20-7, 15 KOs) by a questionable 10-round unanimous decision on the main card. Bellotti used his power advantage and a fierce body attack to dominate the action through the first half of the contest.
In the sixth, had Padley been hurt from hard body shots that had him looking like he was going to cave in. Padley responded well, rallying in the second half of the contest to pull out a wide 10-round unanimous decision.
The judges’ scores were 99-92, 97-93, and 97-93. It appeared that Bellotti was the real winner, but the judges went with Padley.
