WBC No. 3 and WBA No. 4 heavyweight contender Arslanbek Makhmudov suffered the first loss of his career in a surprise fourth-round knockout loss to undefeated Agit Kabayel last Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena. in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Makhmudov (18-1, 17 KOs) will have a hard time recovering from this loss because he was dominated by the 31-year-old Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs) throughout the fight, not just in the fourth. round.
Kabayel outboxed and slugged the big 6’5″ Makhmudov, knocking him down three times before the fight was stopped in the fourth. What Kabayel exposed in that fight was Makhmudov’s inability to handle body shots, as he struggled early on with punches, and he dedicated himself to it once he observed that he couldn’t handle punches.
Makhmudov’s management cannot afford to take their time rebuilding him for two or three years because he is not young enough to drag this out.
They need to find out what the problems are with body shots because everyone will attack that area until he proves he can do it.
“The fight is over. We gave it our all in this training camp and I won the fight,” Agit Kabayel told Queensberry Boxing Promotions following his victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov last Saturday night.
“Yes, 100%. My coach made everything perfect. He told me in training: ‘Body, head and we will win the fight,’” Kabayel said of his coach’s game plan to defeat the big 6’5” Makhmudov. “More, I cannot say.”
Makhmudov was backing up against the ropes repeatedly, which made it easier for Kabayel to hit him with body shots because he was trapped. It would have been a good idea for Makmudov’s trainer to tell him between the ropes to stay in the center of the ring, since he seemed to fight much better when he was in that area.
“I’m not a trash talker. When you give me the next chance, I’ll be ready. I’ve been training for this. When the fans say, I’m ready for the world title. “I am prepared for this,” Kabayel said.
Kabayel is unlikely to get a world title shot against any of the champions. He will have to become a mandatory challenger before he can get a belt.
“Today I knocked him out and I hope the fans give me the credit,” Kabayel said.
“You boxed beautifully. She was watching from afar. It was incredible. Well done,” said Dereck Chisora, congratulating Kabayel on his performance. “The way I see it. If you have a bad day at the office, you lose the fight. The guy he boxed today had 20 knockouts?
“15,” Kabayel said.
“15 knockouts, but he hasn’t been boxing,” Chisora said of Makhmudov. “His record of it was made up. When you fight a real fighter, you find it difficult. When he looked at you poking, poking, and he didn’t know what to do. What was he trying to do? Swing and swing. He was spot on. Well done, brother,” Chisora said.
“I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ll go home and see my family. Maybe in a week we can talk,” Kabayel said when asked who he wants to fight next. I’ll talk to my team and they’ll say a name. We’ll see.”
