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.
Better than Oleg Maskaev, Sergei Liakhovich, Nicolai Valuev, Ruslan Chagaev and maybe Alexander Povetkin.
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 ).
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.
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]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbsqrVMrLMg[/ame] [ame]http://www.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.
Here's another interesting gem alot of people may not have seen. Ibragimov vs Kubrat Pulev who is 19 and fighting at 200lbs here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8xYfplFgRU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNeckw96LYk&feature=relmfu
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.