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By Arne K. Lang
The Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan, home to about 32 million people, won eight Olympic medals in boxing at the 2016 Rio Summer Games: three gold, two silver, and two bronze. No one expected that, least of all the overseers of boxing in Cuba which was overtaken as the world’s top amateur boxing factory.
Most of the members of that team have turned pro. Murodjon Akhmadaliev, a bronze medalist, has made the most headway. Akhmadaliev holds two pieces of the 122-pound world title, diadems he won in his eighth professional bout.
The success of the Olympians propped up the professional game in Uzbekistan. Today’s show in Tashkent, the nation’s capital, was the latest iteration.
The headline attraction was a WBA 154-pound eliminator between fast-rising Ismail Madrimov and Michel Soro. Madrimov, in common with several of his amateur teammates, trains in Indio, California with Joel and Antonio Diaz. Soro, from France via the Ivory Coast, is also stabled in California where he trains under Abel Sanchez in Big Bear.
This was a fairly even fight through eight rounds, but in the ninth, with the seconds ticking down, Madrimov pinned Soro against the ropes and hammered away, continuing his assault after the bell had sounded. He landed perhaps a half-dozen punches before referee Salvador Rodriguez stepped in and stopped the fight, crediting Madrimov with a TKO.
Did referee Salvador not hear the final bell? Regardless there was mass confusion and eight minutes elapsed before the ring announcer sorted things out by declaring the Madrimov the winner. Abel Sanchez was enraged and the WBA will undoubtedly be pressured to overturn the result and declare it a “no-contest.” If the verdict stands, Madrimov improves to 8-0 (6) and has a date with Jermell Charlo in his future. Soro falls to 35-3-1.
Other Bouts
Welterweight Shakhram Giyasov, a silver medalist in Rio who went on to win the gold at the 2017 World Amateur Championships in Germany, improved to 12-0 (9) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Argentine veteran Christian Coria (29-9-2). Giyasov won every round on two of the cards and nine rounds on the other, but Coria had several good moments including a knockdown in the second round that wasn’t called.
Despite the lopsided scorecards, more was expected of Giyasov whose signature win was a 41-second blast-out of Colombian veteran Darlys Perez.
Light flyweight Hasanboy Dusmatov dominated Jose Rivas who quit on his stool after four one-sided frames. The official time was 00.1 of round five.
Hasanboy (4-0, 4 KOs) 3-0 won the Val Barker award at the Rio Games, emblematic of the tournament’s best boxer, an award previously won by such fighters as Roy Jones Jr and Vasiliy Lomachenko. Rivas (19-13-4) had previously fought exclusively in Mexico.
In a fight designed as a confidence-restorer, stocky light heavyweight Bektemir Melikuziev advanced to 8-1 (6) with an 8-round whitewash of 36-year-old Russian journeyman Sergei Ekimov (18-4). Melikuziev dropped Ekimov with a body punch in the fifth round, but the Russian fought a survivor’s fight and made it to the final bell.
In his previous start this past June in El Paso, Melikuziev was flattened by Philadelphia warhorse Gabriel Rosado who scored a brutal third-round knockout. He was winning the fight when the roof fell in.
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