Boxing Results: Israil Madrimov decisions Eric Walker; McCaskill beats Braekhus

By Boxing News - 08/16/2020 - Comments

By Jim Maltzman: Unbeaten Israil Madrimov (6-0, 5 KOs) went the distance on Saturday night in defeating Eric Walker by a 12 round unanimous decision in a WBA 154-pound title eliminator on a DAZN card in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

It was a sloppy fight with a lot of winging punches from the 25-year-old Madrimov and not much in the way of defense by either fighter.

The 37-year-old Walker was knocked down by a big right hand from the 25-year-old Madrimov in round 12. In the same round, Madrimov was docked a point for a low blow. It wasn’t the first time that he’d nailed Walker with a shot below the beltline.

A blown call by the referee in 8th

The scores were 116-110, 116-111, and 116-110, all for Madrimov. Boxing News 24 had it for Madrimov 116-110.

The referee Gary Ritter appeared to blow a call in the 8th round when Madrimov knocked Hunter down with a huge left hook. Ritter ruled that Walker was knocked down from shoulder contact from the Uzbekistan fighter Madrimov.

On instant replay, it was a left hook that hurt Walker from Madrimov. The shot hit Walker right on the chin and knocked him flat. It’s understandable why the referee missed the call, as Madrimov lunged from far outside to throw the left hook, and he fell into Walker.

Image: Boxing Results: Israil Madrimov decisions Eric Walker; McCaskill beats Braekhus

It looked sloppy, but it worked for him in that case, but the referee failed to see it. The badly hurt Walker was given five minutes to recover from the shot from Madrimov, and he needed it. Had the fight continued right away, Madrimov would have likely knocked him out.

Walker was mostly ineffective in the championship rounds from 9 through 12, as he seemed both exhausted and hurt.

Israil looked gassed out by the 6th

Madrimov looked exhausted at times during last Saturday’s fight with Walker, and he wasn’t overly impressive. His power looked good at times when he would throw left hooks to the head, right hands, and body shots, but he was too sloppy.

On defense, Madrimov was vulnerable at all times. He’s not defensively sound, which could continue to be a problem for him throughout his career unless he fixes the problem unless he works on the issue.

Madrimov also struggled in his last fight in beating 40-year-old Charlie Navarro (29-10, 22 KOs) by a sixth-round knockout earlier this year on February 29 in Frisco, Texas.

Navarro took advantage of Madrimov’s weak defense to land a lot of crisp punches, especially when he was off-balance after throwing one of his wild haymaker shots.

Madrimov was almost completely turned around after missing shots, and Navarro was able to nail him with punches. But in the end, Madrimov’s power was too much for the former welterweight contender Navarro, and he was able to stop him in the sixth.

Image: Boxing Results: Israil Madrimov decisions Eric Walker; McCaskill beats Braekhus

With the win, Madrimov is now the WBA junior middleweight mandatory challenger to champion Jeison Rosario. He’ll end up facing the winner of the Rosario vs. WBC 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo at some point in 2021.

Madrimov will have a lot of problems with the more defensively sound Jeison Rosario and Jermell Charlo. Both of those fighters are more polished professional boxers who can punch with a lot of power with either hand.

No defense for Madrimov

Although Madrimov has a lot of power as well, he missed a lot of his shots due to his wild style, and he ends up off balance far too often. You don’t want to be out of position against punchers like Rosario and Charlo frequently like we observed with Madrimov last Saturday night against Walker.

It wasn’t just that fight Madrimov was out of position after throwing a punch. In virtually every match he’s had as a pro, Madrimov is always off-balance after he throws power shots.

His trainer should have fixed that issue a long time ago and taught him out to fight in a more conventional fighting style, seeing that he’s going to get hurt against the elite guys if he’s fighting wildly the way he does.

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While it’s interesting to watch Madrimov get the better of lower-level opposition fighting the way he does, it’s not going to be effective against the quality guys.

Madrimov didn’t look good against the 37-year-old Walker last Saturday night, and you can imagine what’s going to happen to him when he gets in there with Charlo, Rosario, Erislandy Lara, Jarrett Hurd or Tony Harrison. You’ve got to be defensively sound to beat those guys, and Madrimov is too wild handle those types of fighters.

Jessica McCaskill beats Cecilia Braekhus

In other boxing results on Saturday’s DAZN card in Tulsa, Jessica McCaskill (9-2, 3 KOs) defeated 38-year-old IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC/WBO female welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus (36-1, 9 KOs) by a 10 round majority decision in the main event. The loss for Braekhus ended her 11-year reign as a world champion.

The scores were 97-93, 97-94, and 95-95. Boxing News 24 scored it for the 35-year-old McCaskill by a 97-93 score. She outworked Braekhus in virtually every round by letting her hands go a little bit more.

Had the 5’7 1/2″ Braekhus been busier, she would have had a better chance of winning, but she let the shorter 5’6″ McCaskill crowd her and land her power shots.

Image: Boxing Results: Israil Madrimov decisions Eric Walker; McCaskill beats Braekhus

Jessica threw a lot of rabbit punches

McCaskill had the better power of the two, and she was connecting with a lot of big shots that got the attention of the judges. The referee Lawrence Cole could have done a better job of policing the rabbit punches that McCaskill was throwing in close, seeing that she was hitting Braekhus with blatant shots to the back of her head.

They were instances in the fight in which McCaskill would hit Braekhus four times in succession with rabbit punches without being warned about them. It looked like anything goes type of fight, and it was troubling to watch.

It would be nice to see Braekhus and McCaskill fight a rematch, but we’ll have to see. Unless Braekhus can throw more punches, she’ll likely lose the rematch.

She’s not busy enough, and not as effective in close as she needs to be. McCaskill is wide open for uppercuts on the inside, but Braekhus wasn’t throwing any for some reason.

With the win, McCaskill has now won her last four fights since losing to Katie Taylor by a 10 round decision in 2017.

The loss for Braekhus breaks her streak of 25 successful title defenses.

Nakita Ababiy defeats Jarvis Williams

Undefeated middleweight prospect Nikita “White Chocolate” Ababiy (9-0, 6 KOs) defeated journeyman Jarvis Williams (8-3-1, 5 KOs) by a six-round unanimous decision.

Image: Boxing Results: Israil Madrimov decisions Eric Walker; McCaskill beats Braekhus

Ababiy landed a lot of powerful body shots, but Williams took them well in round six, Ababiy emptied his tank attempting to score a knockout, but it was no use. Williams was able to handle his power well and refused to go down.

The judges scored it 59-55, 59-55, and 58-56.

Ababiy is a fun fighter to watch due to his raw power, but he has no defense, he’s slow and not in the same class as the talented fighters at 160. Unless Ababiy can improve on defense, his carer won’t go anywhere.

Ababiy is fun to watch though on DAZN. Still, you can’t put him in with a good middleweight like Gennady Golovkin, Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, or Sergiy Derevyanchenko and expect him to win.

It has nothing to do with Ababiy’s age. He can’t fight the way he does and expect to beat the top tier fighters or even the lower-ranked top guys. He’s too easy to hit.

Shakhram Giyasov stops Wiston Campos

2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakhram Giyasov (10-0, 8 KOs) went right hand crazy to defeat journeyman Wiston Campos (31-8-6, 19 KOs) by a third-round knockout. The #6 WBA light-welterweight contender Giyasov landed a hard right-hand body shot in round three to put Campos on the deck. The fight was then stopped at 3:00 of round three. Campos was also stopped in three rounds by Josh Taylor in 2018.

Giyasov is going to need to develop his left hand and start using a jab, as he looked one-dimensional with the way he was throwing lead right hands all fight. It appeared that he couldn’t throw anything else but right-hand power shots. It worked for him, but everything was telegraphed.

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You knew what Giyasov was going to throw because he had nothing else big a right hand. It’s surprising that an Olympian would only have one tool in their toolkit as Giyasov has, but he does have excellent right-hand power.

But for him to go anywhere as a professional, he’s going to need to develop a lot more tools for him to defeat the talented fighters in the 140lb division. Even after champions Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor move up to 147 shortly, Giyasov will struggle if he can’t develop other weapons to rely on with his offense.