Zhang and Madrimov lose in Saudi Arabia
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The first genuinely massive card of the year took place in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night, and it had two notable bouts with Asian fighters involved,
The first of the two saw Chinese Heavyweight Zhilei Zhang (27-3-1, 22) suffer hsi first stoppage loss, as German Agit Kabayel (26-0, 18) broke him down in 6 rounds to claim the WBC “interim” Heavyweight title, and continue his brilliant run of form.
Kabayel used his feet in the opening round but from round 2 his tactics seemed to change, getting inside, fighting in the pocket, and grinding down Zhang with a high work rate and lots of spiteful body shots. It was a high risk tactic, against a much slower fighter, but one that paid off against a much older, slower man with Zhang feeling the tempo as early as round 3, and despite landing some counters he was starting to break down as early as round 4. To his credit however Zhang was always dangerous, a man with his power will always be dangerous, and in round 5 he landed a big left hand that sent Kabayel to the canvas. The German wasn’t hugely hurt, but was reminded that Zhang could hurt him if he got careless and spent the rest of the round fighting smart.
With the warning of Zhang’s power taken on board, Kabayel got back to business in round 6, and the body took it’s ultimate toll, dropping Zhang. The big man from China tried to beat the count, but was unable to do and was counted out to give Kabayel his third big win in a row, having also stopped Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez. Sadly for Zhang this likely ends his career, at the age of 41, and pushes him into retirement having never landed a shot for a proper world title, though having won the WBO “interim” title a few years back.
The second Asian fighter in action was former WBA Light Middleweight world champion Israil Madrimov (10-2-1, 7) from Uzbekistan as he took on the Vergil Ortiz Jr (23-0, 21) for the WBC "interim" world champion, which Ortiz was looking to defend for the first time,
The fight was really a fight of two halves. The first half was interesting, but lacked action, as Madrimov’s footwork proved to be the key. The Uzbekistani fighter moved around the ring, threw little but frustrated Ortiz who looked unable to fight his fight, unable to let his hands go, and really looked like he lacked answers for Madrimov’s movement and single shots. The shot from Madrimov were few and far between, but what he landed did seem to leave a mark on Ortiz, who seemed to have some, albeit very minor, swelling around the eyes. It really felt like Ortiz had nothing to over-come the movement of Madrimov, who mixed in more offense in rounds 3 and 4 and looked to be in the lead, albeit of a dull fight, by the mid fight mark. It was close, but felt he had had done enough, despite Ortiz showing some life in rounds 5 and 6, but not his usual intensity, and fire, and seemed to struggle to get going.
In the second half however the fight really took on a whole different life, with Ortiz’s pressure taking over, and he dragged Madrimov into his fight. That was really notable in round 7, when Ortiz began to look like the destructive fighter fans love to see, but he eased off the jets in round 8 as Madrimov had a really good comeback round. We then saw the best of Ortiz, with a dominant, punishing round 9, easily his best round of the fight and the one round where we really saw him doing what he is known for. Pressing, punishing, unloading combinations and hurting Madrimov, several times, to both head and body. He seemed to have Madrimov wilting, rapidly. To his credit however Madrimov is made of stern stuff, and he managed to comeback strong in round 10, one of his best rounds, before the two men traded heavy shots through the final 2 rounds, giving us a thrilling finish, and the exact opposite type of fight that we had had in the early stages.
After 12 rounds it was a case that it seemed like Ortiz had done enough, he had won his rounds much cleaner and had done a lot more punishment overall than Madrimov. But with the 10 point must system, it was a very close one and that was reflected in two 115-113 score-cards to Ortiz, who also got the nod 117-111 on the third, for a good win in a very interesting bout between two very talented men. We wouldn’t be surprised at all by these two facing off again in the future, somewhere down the line, and having another close one, albeit one that may not have the same slow start that this one had.
The first of the two saw Chinese Heavyweight Zhilei Zhang (27-3-1, 22) suffer hsi first stoppage loss, as German Agit Kabayel (26-0, 18) broke him down in 6 rounds to claim the WBC “interim” Heavyweight title, and continue his brilliant run of form.
Kabayel used his feet in the opening round but from round 2 his tactics seemed to change, getting inside, fighting in the pocket, and grinding down Zhang with a high work rate and lots of spiteful body shots. It was a high risk tactic, against a much slower fighter, but one that paid off against a much older, slower man with Zhang feeling the tempo as early as round 3, and despite landing some counters he was starting to break down as early as round 4. To his credit however Zhang was always dangerous, a man with his power will always be dangerous, and in round 5 he landed a big left hand that sent Kabayel to the canvas. The German wasn’t hugely hurt, but was reminded that Zhang could hurt him if he got careless and spent the rest of the round fighting smart.
With the warning of Zhang’s power taken on board, Kabayel got back to business in round 6, and the body took it’s ultimate toll, dropping Zhang. The big man from China tried to beat the count, but was unable to do and was counted out to give Kabayel his third big win in a row, having also stopped Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez. Sadly for Zhang this likely ends his career, at the age of 41, and pushes him into retirement having never landed a shot for a proper world title, though having won the WBO “interim” title a few years back.
The second Asian fighter in action was former WBA Light Middleweight world champion Israil Madrimov (10-2-1, 7) from Uzbekistan as he took on the Vergil Ortiz Jr (23-0, 21) for the WBC "interim" world champion, which Ortiz was looking to defend for the first time,
The fight was really a fight of two halves. The first half was interesting, but lacked action, as Madrimov’s footwork proved to be the key. The Uzbekistani fighter moved around the ring, threw little but frustrated Ortiz who looked unable to fight his fight, unable to let his hands go, and really looked like he lacked answers for Madrimov’s movement and single shots. The shot from Madrimov were few and far between, but what he landed did seem to leave a mark on Ortiz, who seemed to have some, albeit very minor, swelling around the eyes. It really felt like Ortiz had nothing to over-come the movement of Madrimov, who mixed in more offense in rounds 3 and 4 and looked to be in the lead, albeit of a dull fight, by the mid fight mark. It was close, but felt he had had done enough, despite Ortiz showing some life in rounds 5 and 6, but not his usual intensity, and fire, and seemed to struggle to get going.
In the second half however the fight really took on a whole different life, with Ortiz’s pressure taking over, and he dragged Madrimov into his fight. That was really notable in round 7, when Ortiz began to look like the destructive fighter fans love to see, but he eased off the jets in round 8 as Madrimov had a really good comeback round. We then saw the best of Ortiz, with a dominant, punishing round 9, easily his best round of the fight and the one round where we really saw him doing what he is known for. Pressing, punishing, unloading combinations and hurting Madrimov, several times, to both head and body. He seemed to have Madrimov wilting, rapidly. To his credit however Madrimov is made of stern stuff, and he managed to comeback strong in round 10, one of his best rounds, before the two men traded heavy shots through the final 2 rounds, giving us a thrilling finish, and the exact opposite type of fight that we had had in the early stages.
After 12 rounds it was a case that it seemed like Ortiz had done enough, he had won his rounds much cleaner and had done a lot more punishment overall than Madrimov. But with the 10 point must system, it was a very close one and that was reflected in two 115-113 score-cards to Ortiz, who also got the nod 117-111 on the third, for a good win in a very interesting bout between two very talented men. We wouldn’t be surprised at all by these two facing off again in the future, somewhere down the line, and having another close one, albeit one that may not have the same slow start that this one had.