By Jeff Aronow: Ilunga Makabu (27-2, 24 KOs) defeated Michal Cieslak (19-1, 13 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Friday night to capture the recently vacated World Boxing Council cruiserweight title at the Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Some boxing fans are saying it was a controversial decision, but it didn’t look that way. Makabu was the busier of the two, and he was pressing the attack the entire fight. Cieslak was VERY negative in fighting in a reactionary mode, and not putting in the effort needed to win rounds.
Makabu dropped Cieslak in round 4. In the 5th, Cieslak returned the favor in knocking Makabu down. However, from that point on, Cieslak fought with his back against the ropes, and wouldn’t leave that position. Cieslak looked like he was in shape, so it’s hard to understand why he felt he needed to stay against the ropes for the entire fight.
After round 5, Cieslak was in the shutdown mode for the fight. He would NOT leave the ropes, and he wasn’t doing enough to win any of the rounds from that point on.
The judges scored it 114-112, 116-111, 114-111. Boxing News 24 scored it for Makabu 11 rounds to 1. The Polish fighter Cieslak, 30, didn’t have the right game plan to win tonight.
If he’d watched Makabu’s past fights, he would have known that he does well against fighters that trap themselves against the ropes. It’s possible that Cieslak didn’t have the engine to fight in the center of the ring. For that reason, he deserved to lose the fight.
Even though Cieslak was firing back from time to time, he was getting pelted with shots from the 32-year-old Makabu. You have to question the game plan that Cieslak
The fight lacked action through most of the contest. Both guys incredibly slow even or cruiserweight standards, and not many punches thrown. Neither of these guys are huge puncher, but they fought like they were walking on eggshells. It was difficult to understand why they were so timid about letting their hands go.
The way Cieslak and Makabu fought, they would both lose to the top light heavyweights from division BELOW them. Unfortunately, the cruiserweight division is almost entirely barren of talent. If fighters are big enough to fight at cruiserweight, they tend to move up to heavyweight, because the paydays are better.
Likewise, there’s more potential for interesting fights at 175. So if a fighter can make cruiserweight, it’s better for them to compete at 175. Who knows if Canelo Alvarez might return another light heavyweight a chance.
Cieslak and Makabu were fighting or Oleksandr Usyk’s vacated cruiserweight title. He moved up to heavyweight in search of big paydays. Who knows? If Usyk gets blasted out two or three times at heavyweight, it won’t be surprising to see him drop back down to cruiserweight to recapture his titles. He shouldn’t have too many problems regaining his WBC belt, as Makabu looks like an easy mark.
The win for Makabu is his 8th in a row since losing to Tony Bellew by a 3rd round knockout in May 2016 in a failed bid to capture the vacant WBC cruiserweight title. Makabu made a mistake in that fight in backing up against the ropes in the 3rd round.
Bellew took advantage of that by throwing a flurry of shots in dropping Makabu. Since that loss, Makabu has fought mostly unknown fighters. He did beat Dmitry Kudryashov, but that’s a fighter that has a reputation for losing when he steps up against better opposition.