In an upset, IBF #12, WBC #13, WBO #13 heavyweight Agit Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs) ended the reign of terror of previously unbeaten WBC #3, WBA #4, IBF #7, WBO #14 Arslanbek Makhmudov (18-1, 17 KOs) on the super card Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Kabayel outboxed Makhmudov and made him look clumsy during the first two rounds. Kabayel then took the fight to Makhmudov landing big shots in round three. In round four, Kabayel dropped Makhmudov three times to end it. Time was 2:03.
Tremendous performance by Kabayel. The performance of a top 10 heavyweight.
Seriously…. He couldn’t have looked better.
Moved well, and put his punches together beautifully. A+ performance. He’s def a top 10 guy.
Agit Kabayel really knows what he is doing and must be up there . Great to see excitement and a heavyweights who clear can fight and not just the same 4 . My guess is some won’t really want any part of him.
Agit upsets the odds with a good game plan and such telling bodyshots. Good boxer to watch going forward.
He made a statement of intent against a guy who was avoided.
Kabayel great win hopefully see him in action again good fight against hopefuly against lAndyRuiz
Ruiz would run as fat as he could from Kabayel. Ruiz has to feel like he lost his opportunity to fight a shot Wilder… a fight offered to him a bazillion times. Any legit guy with a pulse beats Ruiz. They guy was the ultimate one-hit wonder. He took his check from the first AJ fight and got fat. He’ll never have another good win.
Hopefully they learn from this. You don’t want to rush a guy, but Makhmudov is 34 and that was probably the very first time he fought someone as a professional who went into the ring thinking they were going to win. Hopefully Top Rank does better with their other heavies like Anderson and Torrez and Jalolov.
Kabayel’s win another reason we do not need a Bridgerweight division. Terrific body punching. The best HW fights are when a David chops down a Goliath – Most impressive was Kabayel went for the finish – I thought he might have dragged the fight for another round because even a wounded Makhmudv is dangerous. HW fight of the year
Kabayel weighed 241.3 for this fight according to a previous article here on Fightnews. That’s well over the Bridger limit.
USF, he was listed 234 on the telecast. He would easily make Bridgerweight.
Scott, I thought I heard 238 on the telecast, but this site reported him at 241.3. Boxrec also had him listed at 241 1/4 for this one.
As far as Kabayel’s ability to easily making Bridgerweight….maybe he can, but he’s yet to fight at or below the Bridgerweight
limit since turning Pro. A quick look at Boxrec shows that he’s been as low as 230, and as high as 269 in his Pro career. No telling where he’s most comfortable at.
Whatever the case, this was my first time seeing him fight tonight, and I was impressed. Makhmudov obviously wasn’t the most skilled fighter on Earth, but I thought he would have been more durable than that. Kabayel made that look easy.
At the actual weigh-in he was 241.3.
Down goes Cro Magnon Man…down goes Cro Magnon Man!!
Solid win for Kabayel.
I’m not surprised with this result. Makhmudov has always seemed very stiff and robotic to me.
Wow, Kabayel made that look too easy!
Good for him
So I’m guessing that Makhmudov is not a cro-magnon man like someone had said earlier on in the week. I caught the highlights, but it did not look good at all for him. Kabayel not only raised eyebrows, but his stock as well. Good win and great exposure.
If the Saudis like your work and see you generating a decent return, I’m sure they will have him back on the next card. Get that money buddy.
I been seen Makhmudov was just a big strong bully with no real skills!
What’s up with that turning of his head? He looked late me he was trying to shake off a pulled or tender muscle in his neck. Maybe he slept on the wrong side of his bed?
He’s always doing this… it’s like a nervous tic of some sort… Huge disappointment though…
I was surprised by how slow and ponderous Makhmudov was and how much of a sitting duck he was against a mobile puncher like Kabayel. Kabayel just took his time and made Makhmudov pay for missing shots and falling off balance. His focus on the body really paid off and Makhmudov couldn’t do anything about it.
It was a great victory but the writing was on the wall after the first two rounds. Makhmudov has power, but is slow on his feet and just couldn’t corner the fluid Kabayel. If Kabayel fights his future fights like he did tonight, he will be a heavyweight to reckon with in the heavyweight sweepstakes.
Can you believe the winless Francis Ngannou is ranked higher than Agit Kabayel by the WBC? Those gotta be the most bizarre rankings in the history of boxing!
Makhmudov was slow, strong, and predictable.
Good win for Kabayel
After seeing him have such a hard time with 40 year old washed up Takam, it was obvious this guy was overrated.