Murodjon Akhmadaliev (9-0, 7 KOs) used combination punching to great effectiveness to retain his IBF/WBA super bantamweight titles with a fifth-round technical knockout win over challenger Ryosuke Iwasa (27-4, 17 KOs) on Saturday at the Humo Arena in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Akhmadaliev, 26, took Iwasa out with a series of unanswered shots in the fifth round that forced the fight to be stopped by the referee. The time of the bout being waved off was at the 1:30 mark.
Some boxing fans might argue that the referee should have let the fight continue. Still, it was troubling to see Iwasa repeatedly hit with punches by Akhmadaliev in the final sequence in the fifth without throwing anything back.
Iwasa was mildly competitive in the first few rounds, but the fight became target practice for Akhmadaliev from the fourth round. You could see the writing was on the wall and that Iwasa wasn’t going to last long with the way he was taking repeated heavy shots.
Iwasa has been around a little too long, and he couldn’t pull the trigger or make the right move to tie Akhmadaliev when he was throwing his flurries in the fifth round.
If Iwasa had gotten on his bike in the fifth, he could have avoided getting hit with all those shots, but he failed to do that, and it cost him.
—
WBA International light welterweight champion Shakhram Giyasov (11-0, 9 KOs) beat Patricio Lopez Moreno (28-5, 20 KOs) by a third-round knockout.
The 2016 Giyanov stalked Moreno around the ring, hitting him with crushing shots. He hit the deck in the second and was taken out in the third.
It’s still too early to tell whether Giyasov has what it takes to win a world title right now. His hand speed looks very, very slow, and he gets hit way too easily for him to beat any of the current champions, Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez.
But he can probably beat WBA secondary light-welterweight champion, Mario Barrios, though.
—
Israil Madrimov (7-0, 5 KOs) beat Emmany Kalombo (14-1, 14 KOs) by a hard-fought 10 round unanimous decision in junior middleweight action on the card. Kalombo missed a lot of his punches, and he gave Madrimov too much respect in holding back.
In the ninth and tenth, a tired Madrimov frequently clinched, making the fight hard to watch. His was swollen by that point, and his nose bloodied.
The scores:
Madrimov, #1 WBA, knocked Kalombo down in the 8th round after catching him with a left hand that caused him to lose his balance. He wasn’t hurt, though.
There was a lot expected of the Madrimov vs. Kalombo fight, but it failed to live up to the billing, unfortunately. Kalombo was overly cautious of letting his hands go, and his speed was terribly poor.
In watching the first four rounds, it was obvious why Madrimov’s management picked out the little-known Kalombo from the second tier ranks, as he’s a very limited fighter.
Madrimov is the World Boxing Association mandatory for champion Jermell Charlo. But his management needs to hold off before they have him take that fight with Charlo because he’s not ready.
Madrimov gets hit, and his skin marks up easily. Charlo would likely batter Madrimov senseless and knock him out.
Madrimov looks good enough to be a secondary belt-holder if he can get a title shot against WBA ‘regular’ champion Erislandy Lara, but he’s not in the same class as Jermell yet.
Super bantamweight prospect Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov blasted out the hapless Tasha Mjuaji (17-8-2, 5 KOs) by a first-round knockout after dropping him two times in the round.
Mirzakhalilov didn’t really hit Mjuaji with anything, but it didn’t matter. The guy looked like he would have gone down if he were hit by marshmallow tonight.
—
Heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov (8-0, 7 KOs) beat Kristaps Zutis (7-2-2, 7 KOs) by a second-round knockout after dropping him twice in the round. The time of the stoppage was 1:16 of round two. The 6’7″ Jalolov is capable of beating much better than this.
—
Junior flyweight Hasanboy Dusmatov (3-0, 3 KOs) defeated Mushin Kizota (11-3, 5 KOs) by a second-round knockout to win the vacant WBA International strap. Dusmatov knocked Kizota down in the first and two more times in the second to get the stoppage. The fight was stopped at 2:02 of round two.
