Heavyweight Efe Ajagba (17-1, 13 KOs) will take on unbeaten southpaw Zhan Kossobutskiy (19-0, 18 KOs) in the 10-round co-feature on Saturday, August 26 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. Kossobutskiy was originally slated to face Jared Anderson on July 1 but was kayoed by visa problems. Ajagba-Kossobutskiy will be the co-feature to the heavyweight showdown between Jared Anderson and Andriy Rudenko.
Also confirmed, Olympic gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov (12-0, 12 KOs) will make his Top Rank debut in the eight-round televised opener against Onoriode Ehwarieme (20-2, 19 KOs).
Anderson-Rudenko, Ajagba-Kossobutskiy, and Jalolov-Ehwarieme will be broadcast live on ESPN.
The ESPN+-streamed undercard includes featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (8-0, 5 KOs) against an opponent to be named in an eight-rounder, undefeated middleweight Nico Ali Walsh (8-0-1, 5 KOs), grandson of Muhammad Ali, against Sona Akale (7-1, 4 KOs) in a six-rounder, 19-year-old lightweight prodigy Abdullah Mason (9-0, 8 KOs) will make his fourth appearance of 2023 in a six-rounder, junior lightweight Charly Suarez (15-0, 9 KOs) faces Yohan Vasquez (25-3, 20 KOs), and Ablaikhan Zhussupov (3-0, 2 KOs) returns in a welterweight clash scheduled for eight rounds.
Jalolov probably won’t even break a sweat in this one. Saw Ehwarieme fight Kossobutskiy, and he looked like a complete amateur in that fight. A lot of flailing hooks with both hands, and he didn’t seem to take a punch well (he was stopped in the 4th). He was also stopped in the 1st round by Rodney Hernandez. Very inflated record at 20-2 (19 KOs). Think Raphael Akpejiori, that’s about the level Ehwarieme is on.
Yep. It will give him a quick little ko for his highlight reel and… that’ll be that.
Yes but it’s sad for us the fans isn’t it ?!
Surely. You will not want to see that fight.
I’d also add that despite the high KO percentage, it doesn’t look like Ehwarieme has much power, and doesn’t appear to have even a puncher’s chance in this one.
Quality Heavyweights out of Africa seem few and far between. Outside of South Africa, which has had at least 3 belt holders (Coetzee, Botha, & Sanders) off the top of my head, there have only been a handful of noteworthy Heavyweights from that Continent that I can think of. Peter, Izonritei, Ibeabuchi, Ahunanya, Akinwande, Hide were all decent to very good, and there were maybe a couple others who were average to slightly above average. Outside of that, a lot of these guys just look completely unpolished. Take a look at video of Ehwarieme, and keep in mind that this dude qualified for the Nigerian (I think) Olympic team. The talent pool HAS to be extremely shallow there for that to happen. BTW, he lost 11-1 in his first fight in the Olympics to some Croatian guy. Nothing at all against Ehwarieme, just saying something is seriously lacking in whatever amateur programs they have there.
So, if ajagba beats Zhan, will they match him up with Anderson? Another curious fight. Anderson is going have to ish or get off the pot soon. By his own words no one else.
Whomever wins this fight should be able to knock out Jared “Candy Ass” Anderson.
Candy Ass Anderson is a fraud.
“phenom” Jared Anderson?? Did I miss something? Apparently it doesn’t take much to be a phenom these days Anderson is never gonna go anyware in the heavyweight division. To small and ordinary
I thought the same lol
Anderson is not a phenom. He is a candy ass.
I’d like to shuffle the cards a bit.
What was intended from the beginning with Anderson vs Kossobutskiy would have been interesting to watch.
Then at the same time Ajagba vs Jalolov would have been an exciting possibility.
And Rudenko vs Ehwarieme as a warm-up fight.
Zockerbit, When it comes to Anderson, it’s not top rank, it’s protect his rank. If I was ajagba, I would be upset. Serving him up to zhan to see if he beats him. I hope so because I would love to see egg on Anderson’s face. And yes, I know this guy had visa issues last time out, but it’s funny how he did face him on this fight????
You also got to watch on this thread. There is a rat in this house, who snitches on others to them censored because they can’t take it.
@Killa “Dingleberry” King You’re obviously talking about me, but you’re talking out of your behind as usual. There’s nothing about you that I can’t take. I haven’t “snitched” on anybody here, and don’t really care about you at all, which is probably the case with everybody else in the World. I’m starting to think that you’re a Bot that somebody programmed and stuck on this board as a prank.
U So Full of Bull .
@USF, who says I was talking about you? Guilty conscience? Look, when you provide your opinion try not mimic or copy the ringside announcers in the future. It’s obvious you have no mind of your own. Which makes you, an “idiot.”
Seems like you’ve been absolutely obesessed ever since my prediction of Haney beating your boy came true. The creep factor with you is getting to be off the charts at this point. I think I’ll join the rest of the World in ignoring you. Put your Big Boy pants on get over it.
Oh, I was so worried that your posts were getting through? Is that sound like someone that needs to put their big boy pants on? Those were your words, cry baby. What’s crazy, is my posts are not half as bad as some even on this thread. Yet, you cry. Sometimes the truth hurts when you get called out on your nonsense.
Agreed. But it’s Top Rank, so they’re playing alphabet games. Clearly that card you mention is much better than what we’ve got. The Ajagba/Zhan fight is the only one without an effectively predetermined outcome.
Ajagba-Kossobutskiy is a very good matchup the rest are typical hw mismatches. Ajagba has scary power and took big punches from Frank Sanchez (including when he was already down on a knee) and kept on coming in his only loss. Jared Anderson is legit – but maybe not a future champion- is he a big puncher who can wreck the division? Of course not, but he has good speed for a hw and good boxing skills – I like the way he switched to southpaw and went to the body.
This two are not going anywhere in their careers besides fighting tomato cans!