Ali Bagodinoviç Akhmedov - remember the name.

Just don't confuse him with either of the MMA fighters by the same name (one a middleweight tomato can hailing from Uzbekistan who debuted when our Akhmedov was still going through puberty, and the other a Russian national with a middling 3-1 record but who can't possibly be the same guy because he competes at bantam, which even in MMA is 50lb lighter than where this AA campaigns in boxing).

He reportedly just kayoed unbeaten Indy prospect "Incredible" Curtis Hill Jr. for the WBC Youth light heavyweight title, ending Hill's perfect run at 10-0 (5). As for Akhmedov's own pro record now, well, your guess is as good as mine. According to BoxRec (who are yet to update results from this card in Austin but do at least have it listed), this should now make him 8-0 (6). In point of fact, Akhmedov has at least 2-3 professional bouts missing from his ledger on BR (all taking place in Belarus in summer/fall of 2016) and should probably now be 11-0 (9).

On top of that, he is still participating in elite international amateur tourneys. Case in point, last October, despite being already balls-deep in a pro career, stormed the FISU world championships in Thailand (basically the biggest holdover event between Rio last year and the AIBA worlds beginning next week) and knocked out literally everybody in his path to easily grab the gold medal at 81kg.

Oh, and did I mention he is said (by some respected global boxing scene journos) to have been robbed against the highly regarded Adilbek Niyazimbetov, the Uzbek with four silver medals to his name (two in the Olympics, and two in the AIBA world chip's)? Yeah, that's no small thing.

His style is really nice from what I have seen, a calm & poised yet merciless and spiteful puncher, who picks his spots and delivers a violent payload with his full body-weight yet floats around on his toes lighter than a feather while on defense, with his "dare you to strike first" hands-low chest-out swagger. He uses his jab to set up his offense very well, and seems to have curated himself a nice blend of all the best elements of both the US & EE schools of prizefighting. No doubt part of this is his experience training at the Mayweather gym rubbing off, along with idolizing & studying fellow Kazakh (and pride of the country) GGG, and cutting his teeth with so much stiff int'l competition in his teens.

It won't be long before a big promoter snatches him up, and even shorter after that before he lands a splashy TV date and probably a title shot around the same time. With guys like him and Bivol in the pipeline, I don't think we have to worry about LHW drying up after the old guard (Ward, Kovalev, Stevenson) retire.

edit: here's virtually all the video there is on him.

No video that I can find on his pro debut, vs. Sergey Krapshyla, a Belarusian can that went almost 4 complete rounds with a seasoned Dmitry Chudinov (but Akhmedov got rid of Krapshyla in 2 minutes flat in his debut)

Akhmedov vs. Galymzhan Kanayev:

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Akhmedov vs. Mindia Nozadze:

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Akhmedov vs. Ruslan Rodzivic*:

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Akhmedov vs. Vadzim Paleyeu*:

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* - pro bout, not listed on BoxRec.

Akhmedov vs. Ali Mammadov:
https://youtu.be/Z-MrQme6JFc

Akhmedov vs. Uladzimir Kharkhevich:
https://youtu.be/UNdneeYZhYo

Akhmedov vs. Patrick Mendy:
https://youtu.be/4adpF8p8quI

Akhmedov vs. Kent Holland:
https://youtu.be/0h69KDmuedE

Akhmedov vs. Curtis Hill Jr.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dldBjjxWfow

Akhmedov vs. Justin Thomas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK_R9TW9PDo


..so, that's all but a single match (totaling 130 seconds or so) of his pro career thus far all documented and uploaded for public consumption - despite the nefarious efforts (maybe) of Cedric Johnson & co. Not too shabby.

Bonus:
Akhmedov vs. Lionel Thompson (former Kovalev opponent) in sparring @ Mayweather Club:
https://youtu.be/DMYDqf8X_oc
https://youtu.be/GN7kzAgpQo0
https://youtu.be/abf2iDUucsU

Akhmedov vs. Caleb Plant, hard sparring at Mayweather Club, toying w/ the American, rumored to have made Plant quit:
https://youtu.be/e8jw47QR-Zk
https://youtu.be/lVzhNzk-QhE

Akhmedov vs. Ukë Smajli (very good Swiss amateur with a record of 73-9-2 while mixing with high level international competition frequently)

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Akhmedov vs. Әdilbek Niyazymbetov:
https://youtu.be/qyXH_SGXDxE

 

He was an alternate on his homeland's Astana Arlans team in the WSB, but I can't find any results to his name so he might not have ever seen action in the "semi-pros". He did rack up loads of accolades in the 'regular' amateurs, however (was national champ & youth champ in Kazakhstan a bunch of times, Asian champ, etc) with 250+ matches.

 

Confusingly, if you go on the fool's errand of hunting down footage or stats on him from the WSB, you're going to get a lot of hits for Ramzjon Akhmedov, an Uzbek that also served on the Arlans' roster (albeit long before Ali's time) and is eight years his senior.

 

Oh and there's yet another Ali Akhmedov who might annoyingly clog up your Google searches for the precious little available on this 22 year old hard-punching, Dempsey-shifting ambidextrous phenom: the acting 3rd Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan. (a nominally unimportant figure to most of us in the rest of the world unless something crazy happens, since he is 5th in line of succession to become prez, but even then, how many of you can name the current Azerbaijani president anyway?)

 

This is by far the lengthiest bit of footage you're going to find on him, especially since this is by far the longest anyone has ever stretched him in the pros (only the second person to reach the judges' scorecards with him, probably in a good long while, am or pro):

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...and there's no shame going a hard eight with Patrick Mendy (a definitive shutout for Akhmedov), who is tough as nails and knows a host of negative veteran tricks.

 

So it appears there might be some footage suppression going on, don't quote me on that, but that's my hunch based on some things I've been told. (reluctance to allow it to be seen on the part of Hill's team)

Apparently there was video available of the full card online as of the wee hours last night but the main event has now been deleted. There also was a YouTube video posted by Hill's team showing him post-fight looking banged up but still keeping a positive attitude regarding the loss and his prospects to rebound from it - that has also been "removed by the user". The13thround was able to compile GIF image highlights of the entire card (including debutant vs. 1-14 type 4-rounders) EXCEPT the main event. Very sketch.

Especially when you consider that Hill is handled (and personally coached) by Cedric Johnson of CBA Promotions. Johnson has a checkered past with all kinds of weird snake oil shady goings-on (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/louisiana-promoter-cheats-fans-by-656841)

Keith Underwood, the event promoter in Austin, who runs his tattoo shop and promotional company from the same Twitter handle, is also somewhat ratchet and live streamed every fight on his personal Facebook page but now mysteriously doesn't have Akhmedov vs. Hill up there.

My guess? Johnson didn't like how bad Hill looked getting beaten up and slipped Underwood a little something to squash it getting out. With just the L on BoxRec and no audiovisual context there's still a chance for Johnson to sell Hill as some kind of major domestic prospect and get signed with Haymon or something.

 

Top man!!

 

Pretty much what I expected to see, Akhmedov buzzsawing methodically through Hill; after seeing footage of the latter he looked a typical American style flashy handspeed open-handed slapping combo and twitchy attempted shoulder rolling sort. Basically grist to mill for someone like double-A.