Agit Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs) used his superior speed, athleticism, and body punching to stoppage previously undefeated knockout artist Arslanbek Makhmudov (18-1, 17 KOs) in the fourth round to end his title shot hopes on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Kabayel Took Control From the Bell:
The unbeaten Kabayel dominated from the opening round, landing beautiful shots to the head of the awkward-looking 31-year-old Makhmudov, and sending him off balance. Makhmudov was swinging & missing and stumbling.
In the third round, Kabayel hurt Makhmudov with a left to the body. Immediately seeking that he was in distress, Kabayel nailed Makhmudov to the bread basket with a left that dropped him.
From there, Kabayel continued to land shots to the body, while Makhmudov crouched over, trying to create a smaller target area for his body.
Body Blows Break Makhmudov’s Will:
It was no use, as Kabayel landed his body shots to the sides of Makmudov’s waist and dropped him a second time. There was no escape for Makhmudov because he could not take the nonstop punches to the body from Kabayel, who was like a shark going for the finish.
Finally, the end came with a hard punch to the solar plexuses from Kabayel that had Makmudov down, huffing & puffing, looking like he had the wind knocked out of him.
The time of the stoppage was at 2:03 of round four. What’s unclear is if Makhmudov fought with an injured rib because he fought like he couldn’t handle any body shots tonight, and you have to wonder if he came into the fight with some kind of problem.
If this wasn’t an injury, it’s going to be difficult for Makhmudov to come back from this because every opponent that he faces from this point on will target his body, taking advantage of the weakness that Kabayel exposed.
Going into this bout, Makhmudov’s previous opposition had been ham & eggers, who had been headhunters, ignoring his body. But after tonight, that’ll change.
Questions linger
Everyone Makmudov faces from this point on will focus on his body, looking to take advantage of what a very average fighter, Kabayel, exposed.
Makhmudov losing to a European-level heavyweight like Kabayel, who holds the EBU belt, shows that he’s not at the level of fighting top-tier opposition.
Kabayel had been considered as a potential opponent for Anthony Joshua tonight. It would have been interesting to see how he would have done against AJ, who hasn’t looked like the same fighter he once was in many years.