By Chris Williams: Top Rank is mighty thin at light welterweight, as Golden Boy Promotions has the big names in this weight class with Amir Khan, Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse and Lamont Peterson.
Bob Arum of Top Rank just has Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado, and we already saw Alvarado exposed recently by Rios, and we saw Rios get dominated by Richard Abril.
Both Rios and Alvarado’s stock has dropped recently with those fights. Arum is reportedly adding WBA light welterweight champion Khabib Allakhverdiev (18-0, 12 KO’s) to the Top Rank stable in a move that will give Arum someone to put in with Rios and Alvarado, so that we don’t just keep seeing them facing each.
By adding the 30-year-old Allakhverdiev, we’ll now likely see him facing the winner of the March 30th rematch between Alvarado and Rios, or at the very least the lower of that fight.
Allakhverdiev isn’t really well known, however, despite being a world champion. He recently beat 36-year-old Joan Guzman by an 8th round technical decision last November in fight that was surprisingly competitive. Allakhverdiev also has wins over Nate Campbell, Ignacio Mendoza and Kaizer Mabuza, but no one that you could really call a good fighter.
Allakhverdiev has fast hands, a good left hand, but poor defensive skills. He’s not a huge puncher, and he’d likely have a ton of problems if he were thrown in the ring with the likes of Khan, Garcia, Matthysse and Peterson.
Those guys are definitely a cut above Allakhverdiev. However, matching Allakhverdiev with Rios and/or Alvarado would be some interesting fights because both of those guys aren’t on the same level as the aforementioned fighters, and it could lead to some interesting wars.
I’m all for it. If this is all Arum has for these fighters, then I’d wouldn’t mind seeing Allakhverdiev facing Rios and Alvarado over and over again until the series is played out too many times. Allakhverdiev would give both of them a lot of problems, but I’m not sure he can handle getting hit a lot.
In order to beat Rios and Alvarado, Allakhverdiev would have to walk through a lot of painful shots and I have my doubts he’d be able to do that. If Allakhverdiev was going life and death with a past his best Guzman, then that tells me he’s not in the same league as Rios and Alvarado.
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