I believe a newly available Arbachakov fight, here we get to see the 24 year old Yuri making a savage statement while claiming the Japanese flyweight title. This bout was less than a year before Arbachakov would take a massive step up, taking on the experienced Thai Muangchai Kittikasem for his WBC flyweight title. Love seeing Arbachakov in action, whether it's a brief fight or not. He's already seemingly a finished product with a complete arsenal of developed punches. A real killer in the ring, if I've ever seen one. This content is protected
Beast, one of the great all round boxer punchers at the lower weights imo though moreso in terms of projected h2h skill than overall achievement. Like you say, he was more or less already a complete fighter upon turning pro like many Soviet fighters with extensive amateur careers, and his career proved to the crowning jewel of the perestroika programme he was a part of. It's a shame he got talked into the rematch with Sasakul really, his interest in boxing had been waning even before the first fight and had all but evaporated come the second fight. He'd have retired undefeated otherwise and had a more mythical status imo. Great to see him here at his peak.
Great post tin ribs, hit the nail on the proverbial head. Must have been a sweet payday for him to come back after, what, well over a year of inactivity for the Sasakul rematch?
Cheers lad. The inactivity/hand injury and lack of motivation really showed against Sasakul I thought, who was excellent in his own right. It's possible that Arbachakov was motivated by money, I'm not sure. He'd also had a slight tendency in the past to coast a little against lesser fighters and mobile one, thought he was actually very well equipped to deal with the latter other than being a bit one-paced at times. How do people think he'd have done against Lopez? Flyweight was where Lopez should've been fighting anyway and they might well have crossed paths if he hadn't chosen to beat up untalented midgets instead. There are plenty of captivating fantasy fights for Arbachakov actually vs other East Asian fighters in and around flyweight. Harada, Ebihara, Chang, Gushiken, Watanabe, Oguma, Park, Yuh, Chionoi, Chitalada, Borkhorsor, Seki, Kingpetch, Ohba. I might have to start a thread but the lack of responses bothers me.