By Brian Webber: 2020 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov (13-0, 13 KOs) stole the show with the most impressive performance on the card, destroying Onoriode Ehwarieme (20-3, 19 KOs) by a first round knockout last Saturday night on the Top Rank card at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Making his debut for Top Rank on the undercard of prospect Jared Anderson, the powerful 6’7″ Jalolov overshadowed the guy that the promotional company is making a big push to be their next star at heavyweight by dropping the equally tall 6’7″ Ehwarieme (20-3, 19 KOs) three times in the first round before referee Gerald Ritter stopped the fight. The bout was stopped at 2:06.
The first knockdown came from two left hands from the five-year pro Jalolov that bowled Ehwarieme over. The second left hand caught Ehwarieme unaware and put him down.
When the action resumed, Jalolov lined Ehwarieme up for another left hand, which landed down the pipe to send him down hard. That was a huge shot from Jalolov, as one could hear the impact when it landed, sounding like rifle fire.
Ehwarieme staggered after he got back to his feet. The referee, Ritter, initially told Ehwarieme to walk to the far corner but then changed his mind and asked him to walk towards him. It was clear that he wanted to ensure he was all there mentally and could follow commands.
When the fight resumed, Jalolov went after the hurt Ehwarieme and knocked him down for a third time with two sweeping left hands.
Ehwarieme took the first shot well, but when he tried to escape, he was caught by another left hand from Jalolov that sent him down for the third and final time.
Ritter then stepped in and stopped the bout. Although he could have let the fight continue, it would have been silly because Jalolov had Ehwarieme’s number, and he could have kept knocking him down repeatedly until he could no longer get back up.
Moving forward, hopefully, it’ll be interesting to see if Top Rank will start putting Jalolov on the televised portions of the ESPN broadcasts rather than sticking him on their YouTube channel. Jalolov has too much talent to be kept off the ESPN broadcasts.
Jalolov was toiling away in near obscurity until Top Rank signed him recently, and he’s got the talent to capture a world title.
It would be great to see Top Rank match Jared Anderson, Efe Ajagba, and Richard Torrez with Jalolov to see if they are worth keeping.
If they all lose to Jalolov, Top Rank can cut the fat from their roster and put their energy, time & money into having him replace the aging 35-year-old Tyson Fury.