How good was Sultan Ibragimov

[SuzieQ49]

Thoughts.


Olympic Silver Medalist, WBO world champion. Slick, defensively talented southpaw.

[Filthy McNasty]

Good enough to make seven-figures then ride off into a comfortable retirement apparently.

[Boxing Fanatic]

he was quite good just based on his performance vs. wlad. wlad couldnt figure him out

[BOGART]

Sultan was a good heavyweight but could/should have done more with his career. He retired right when he should have been fighting only top heavyweights.

Right now he's probably one of Wlad's 5 best wins or so. I get the feeling over time he'll drop down that list a bit as his stock drops. He only had 24 fights and his best wins are over guys like a 35 year old Briggs and Whitaker. I think he'll eventually be seen as a guy who had the talent but didn't fulfill it, and I think that would be accurate.

[Dorfmeister]

Better than Oleg Maskaev, Sergei Liakhovich, Nicolai Valuev, Ruslan Chagaev and maybe Alexander Povetkin.

[damian38]

the Micheal Moore of the 2000's

[Absolutely!]

Originally Posted by Dorfmeister

Better than Oleg Maskaev, Sergei Liakhovich, Nicolai Valuev, Ruslan Chagaev and maybe Alexander Povetkin.

Better than Chagaev? Skillwise, that's disputable, I think.

[Butch Coolidge]

Ibragimov had a great chin. I saw him take a huge punch from (American) Corey Sanders and stay upright and keep going while in sparring, plus he managed to withstand a huge punch from Vladimir Klitschko in that fight. SI had a sneaky powerful counter left hand ( he was a southpaw ) and his hand speed is generally misunderstood by a large percentage of boxing fans ( not all white guys are slow contrary to what some have been taught over the years ).

[ko_bros]

Ibragimov was a damn good fighter. We need more of them these days. Would love to see him vs any of the top HW. Ibragimov-Haye would be a great fight imo.

[WiDDoW_MaKeR]

[ame]***********.youtube.com/watch?v=XeXCYcnN3gA[/ame]

[Vysotsky]

Originally Posted by Absolutely!

Better than Chagaev? Skillwise, that's disputable, I think.

Ibragimov and Chagaev were signed to unify the WBO and WBA belts in 2007 but thats when Chagaev tore his achillies tendon or whatever it was, never really been 100% since imo.

They fought at the 2001 WC with Chagaev winning. Really good fight.

[ame]***********.youtube.com/watch?v=pbsqrVMrLMg[/ame]

[ame]***********.youtube.com/watch?v=hELvAUrW_Fs&feature=relmfu[/ame]


Ibragimov is very underrated by most mainly due to alot of people only remembering him for the terrible Klychko fight. Worst thing to happen to Sultan imo is when he got with Jeff Mayweather to train him. He used to be a aggressive, boxer/puncher who would also swarm guys at times with great combinations, very good handspeed, solid chin and solid power in both hands even though he was only about 210-215 naturally. I think he was a very good boxer. Mayweather turned him into an extremely apprehensive defensive minded boxer who stopped throwng combinations, totally ruined him.

[Vysotsky]

Here's another interesting gem alot of people may not have seen.

Ibragimov vs Kubrat Pulev who is 19 and fighting at 200lbs here.

[ame]***********.youtube.com/watch?v=r8xYfplFgRU[/ame]

[ame]***********.youtube.com/watch?v=JNeckw96LYk&feature=relmfu[/ame]

[Boxed Ears]

He was a very solid B-level fighter. He didn't lack for any of the major physical categories, power, speed, chin, etc. And he had good, well-rounded technical ability, like you'd expect from his amateur background. Volo's win over him probably gets underrated for sheer low entertainment value of their fight together, but it was a dominant win over a very good fighter. When I say B-level, I mean as far as championship names are concerns. Historically B-level-which is meant as a compliment. He was an A-level for his own division at the time, obviously. I consider him perfectly in the league of Chagaev, Povetkin, Haye, Chambers, etc, at heavyweight. But, I was very disappointed not to see the Chagaev fight. I think we missed out on a very interesting match-up, there. I really do. I think he could've had some good ones if he'd stuck around, also. Valuev, Thompson, Chambers, Adamek, Fury, Boytsov, Povetkin. They all would've been interesting, to me.

[ko_bros]

Originally Posted by Boxed Ears

He was a very solid B-level fighter. He didn't lack for any of the major physical categories, power, speed, chin, etc. And he had good, well-rounded technical ability, like you'd expect from his amateur background. Volo's win over him probably gets underrated for sheer low entertainment value of their fight together, but it was a dominant win over a very good fighter. When I say B-level, I mean as far as championship names are concerns. Historically B-level. He was an A-level for his own division at the time, obviously. I consider him perfectly in the league of Chagaev, Povetkin, Haye, Chambers, etc, at heavyweight. But, I was very disappointed not to see the Chagaev fight. I think we missed out on a very interesting fight, there. I really do. I think he could've had some good ones if he'd stuck around, also.

I this so too. I think that Ibragimov would beat Chagaev.

[madballster]

Originally Posted by damian38

the Micheal Moore of the 2000's

That's a fair assessment. Good enough to win a belt, not good enough to hold on to it. Both were technically skilled but too small to make a lasting impression.