18.05.05 – By Gennadi Komarnitzky (translated by Izyaslav Koza) – Aslanbek Kodzoev might be one of the most underrated prospects in the middleweight division today. Kodzoev was born on December 15th, 1980 in Ingushetia, then a part of the former USSR. His father, a noted amateur in the Kazakhstan school of boxing, took his son to the boxing gym at the age of 9. As an amateur Kodzoev, fighting as a junior welterweight, had his first success in the sport by winning a medal in the Moscow Championships..
In his second pro fight, Kodzoev upset the more experienced Tshepo Mashego (7-2), for the WBC Youth Middleweight title. In his sixth professional bout, Kodzoev suffered the only setback to his career when he lost to another up and comer named Vitali Tsypko (fought to a no contest with Jeff Lacy last year).
Kodzoev was extremely disappointed by his performance, and called the bout “an unpleasant experience, seeing as I thought I was facing another fighter with the same last name, Tsypko, and there was some confusion as to who I would actually be fighting. The Tsypko I was training for was a short, orthodox fighter, but the one I met turned out to be a tall southpaw. I broke my hand early, and got knocked down in the second round. The referee stopped it in the fourth.”
Kodzoev aggressively rebounded from the loss and won the Russian Middleweight against an experienced, Sergei Tatevosyan, who was at the time a top ten middlweight, according to “The RING” magazine. Here is how Kodzoev recounts this experience: “I didn’t have a lot of time to train before the bout, because I again re-injured my hand during training. Tatevosyan was clearly the favorite, besides which the fight was held on his turf in Novosibirsk (Russia). I was lucky though because one of the judges, as well as the referee were from Moscow. Before the fight, I got two novocaine injections for my hand, in order to reduce the pain. I managed to win, and it was a really important victory in my career.”
The victory over Tatevosyan allowed Kodzoev to fight for the WBC International Middleweight title, against heavy favorite Jerry Elliot (33-1-1 at the time). In his 10th professional bout, again as the underdog, Kodzoev won a unanimous decision, sending Elliot to the canvas in the 3rd, 4th, and 6th rounds.
Kodzoev unsatisfied in his quest for bigger and better fights, then decided to come to America, where he is currently being promoted by “Peltz Boxing.” Under the Peltz banner Kodzoev has won 6 straight fights, and is currently ranked in the top 10 by the WBC at 160 pounds. Kodzoev’s team has recently decided to try and move Aslanbek down to 154, where in WBC officials dropped him down to the #15 spot, even though at that point he had just come off a convincing victory over hard punching Rasheem Brown of Philadelphia (14 W, 12 KO’s going into the fight).
Against Brown, Kodzoev ran away with the decision, keeping away and closing the distance only at his own discretion, all the while beating Brown to the punch in every exchange.
In his second to last fight held on American soil, Kodzoev showed tremendous heart and will to win, by getting up 3 times off the canvas to stop heavy hitter Julio Cesar De La Cruz (currently 15-3 with 14 KO’s), on cuts in the 9th round. After hitting the canvas for the third time Kodzoev, took the initiative and opened up a huge gash above Cruz’s left eye late in the sixth round. Kodzoev then proceeded to score from the outside, all the while targeting the cut, and causing the ring side physician to wave the white flag on behalf of Cruz.
In his last outing in Moscow, Kodzoev knocked out Colombian, Diego Castillo (21-3 18 KO’S, at the time) in the fourth round. Kodzoev managed to drop Castillo twice in the first round, and once in the third, before coming on strong, and ending matters in the fourth. Watching cautiously in the stands was fellow Russian, Roman Karmazin, who was extremely impressed as well as a bit worried about fellow countryman Kodzoev competing in the same weight division as himself. Furthermore, Karmazin might have also been interested in Kodzoev’s fight, seeing as Kodzoev sparred with current IBF champ Kassim Ouma, in prepartion for a fight with Kofi Jantuah. Karmazin is currently the #1 contender for Ouma’s belt.
With a total of only 18 fights Kodzoev, joins Karmazin, and Undefeated Ukrainian Sergei Dzindziruk, as the hottest fighters from the former USSR at 154. Kodzoev has already easily proven that he can handle adversity and will his way to victory if need be, even when the odds are against him. We can only hope this kid will be “hitting a TV screen near us in the not too distant future (figuratively speaking of course),”
*Photo: Aslanbek Kodzoev and Roman Karmazin. Courtesy of Mr. Komarnitzky.
Gennadyi Komarnitskyi, Moscow, Russia