By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten cruiserweight prospect Rakhim Chakhkiev (9-0, 6 KO’s) will be taking a slight step upwards in competition later this month against 31-year-old Russian Alexander Kotlobay (21-1-1, 15 KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round but at the Grand Elysse in Hamburg, Germany.

Chakhkiev, 28, is a former 2008 heavyweight Olympic gold medalist for Russia and he’s still being brought along slowly despite his amateur pedigree. To be honest, Kotlobay really isn’t much of a step up from Chakhkiev’s last opponent 37-year-old American Michael Simms, because basically all of Kotlobay’s wins on his resume have come against B and C level opposition. Kotlobay was put in with one A level fighter, Enzo Maccarinelli two years ago in April 2010, and the outcome was disastrous for Kotlobay, as he lost by a 1st round knockout.

Since that defeat, he’s been put back in with soft opposition and he’s responded by doing well. The WBC has Kotlobay ranked an incredible #7, which is far too high a ranking given his lack of quality opposition and how terrible he looked when he was finally put in with a decent fighter. The WBC has Kotlobay ranked Antonio Tarver and BJ Flores, which tells all you need to know about the intelligence behind his ranking. I personally see Kotlobay as a bottom 40 contender at best.

Chakhkiev is a good fighter in the Marco Huck mode. He likes to take the fight to the inside and really brawl. His hand speed isn’t much but he punches well to the body and is hard to extract once he gets inside. I see this as 2nd or maybe 3rd round knockout. Once Chakhkiev lands something hard on Kotlobay’s chin this fight will be over. It’s a mismatch basically with a good fighter facing a guy with a terribly inflated record and ranking.

Chakhkiev is reportedly sparring with journeyman Lukasz Rusiewicz (10-11, 3 KO’s) to get him ready for Kotlobay. That seems about right. He doesn’t need much better to get ready for this guy. The fight should be over when Chakhkiev lands his first good punch to the head of Kotlobay.

Also on the card will be Juergen Brahmer making his comeback, Ruslan Chagaev, Denis Boytsov, Ina Menzer, Firat Arslan, and Marcel Meyerdiercks. As of now, none of those fighters have an opponent picked out, which isn’t a good sign this close to the January 28th fight date. Look for a big set of mismatches for each of these fighters.