By Erik Schmidt: Heavyweight Timur Ibragimov (25-2-1, 14 KO’s) defeated former cruiserweight champion Al Cole (35-16-3, 16 KO’s) in a bizarre bout consisting of six two minute rounds on Friday night at the Lofberg Arena, in Karlstad, Sweden.
The final judges’ scores were 60-55, 59-56 and 59-55. For Ibragimov, 34, it was his 5th consecutive victory since suffering back to back defeats to Calvin Brock and Tony Thompson in 2006 and 2007. Ibragimov’s wins have come against soft opposition. Cole was making his 2nd fight of his comeback following three years away from boxing from 2005 to 2008.
Cole has now lost four out of his last five bouts since 2003. Cole held the International Boxing Federation cruiserweight title from 1992 to 1995, beating then likes of Uriah Grant, Vincent Boulware, Nate Miller, James Warring and Glen McCory during that time span.
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In other action on the card, Swedish heavyweight Attila Levin (32-3, 25 KO’s) defeated Adnan Buharalija (19-7-1, 14 KO’s) by a 4th round stoppage. This bout was also a fight with two minute rounds. Levin looked the best he had in years, firing off hard combinations in the opening round and catching Buharalija each time to the head. In the 2nd round, Levin knocked Buharalija down twice with hard hooks to the body.
Levin had Buharalija down again in the 3rd round. And then in the 4th, Levin ended matters. Although it was a good win for Levin, it’s hard to say what he gets from any of this other than a paycheck. He’s very unlikely ever going to be a heavyweight contender at this point in his career having failed in the past when taking on better competition.
Levin, 32, a former 1996 Olympian for the Swedish team, is a 12-year pro whose best wins have come against Ross Puritty, Ray Austin and Ron Guerrero. However, Levin has had poor luck against top level opposition, getting stopped by Jeremy Williams and Nikolay Valuev. Levin stopped fighting in 2005, and took three years off before making a comeback in 2008.