Big puncher Arslan Makhmudov 6' 5 1/2 hasn't seen rnd 3 yet in 7 fights. Six 1st rounders . Jonathan Rice 6'5 another big unit weighing 250 plus. Has seen 53 rounds and has 6 K.O's in 14 bouts ,but don't let the record fool you many were 6 rounders ,some 4. Hes a big puncher from what I see. Only losses were 6 rnd UD's, last one 2 years ago. This looks to me a pit fall possibly for the talked up Arslan . Rice is much improved and coming out of Breazeale training camp so no doubt hes got the better preparation here. Makhumudov does have WSB experience but very limited sanctioned pro on record ones. Just a warning for this guys fans on here,one to look out for. Could be another good one besides Sat.
Makhmudov won by seventh-round TKO. I haven't watched the fight but from what I read about it Makhmudov had a lot of troubles with Rice's movement and couldn't cut the distance until Rice begun to tire. Makhmudov couldn't land anything serious until the end of round four according to reports. While his power, size and killer instinct are great, Makhmudov's limitations are very obvious too - he is one-dimentional, can't cut the ring efficiently against a fighter with a good footwork and is very slow on his feet. I don't think he will ever be a champion - Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk would clown him with easy. He won't win a single minute against either of them. Hell, I'd even favour Hughie Fury to beat him. But against the guys who are willing to trade - guys like Kownacki - he will have his chances.
Rice moves very well for such a big man and made for a difficult target from the brief bit of footage I saw. He's also sparred Tyson Fury and Joe Joyce and says he's improved a lot recently. This content is protected
I saw the fight from round 4. While Makhmudov was having troubles with Rice movement, he was outboxing him, he didn't lose a round, Rice was fighting quite negative, the same Rice that took rounds of olympic gold medallist Tony Yoka, I think Makhmudov looked good
i told posters he's a 3 year away from fine tuning, very raw but a lot to work with. shouldn't be a top 5 prospect though. Sirenko is still number one. @ Those telling me Arslen kills him....not going to happen! Lol
While he's slow on his feet Makhmudov knows his strengths well...He's an absolutely huge puncher with good speed for such a big guy and seems to have a good chin also...Yeah he's still raw but he paced himself well yesterday and really turned it on late without any problems when he started smelling blood.
Yes, I just watched the fight (thanks to @Serge). Makhmudov is definitely very dancgerous, but I think his flaws will be with him forever. Usyk and Tyson Fury will be terrible match ups for him stylistically, but even on the "prospect level" I can't see him winning against Hrgovich, who is much qiuicker and way more skilled.
I'd like to see Russian top-3 prospects (Romanov, Makhmudov and Kuzmin) face each other, although I know it won't happen. Romanov, in my opinion, is the most skilled and smartest one amongst them, but unfortunately he is too small.
Does Hrgovic has the chin to last 10 or 12 with the Lion? All it takes from him is one clean shot and when the guy is hurt he finishes him. He will surely get outboxed but soon or later he can catch him and take him out too...
I agree, but Makhmudov has that kind of power that can change everything with one punch, so he will have high chances of upset someone like Fury or Usyk that would outbox him relatively easy
I just watched the fight and I agree he looked good. Like I said, Rice has very good feet and movement for a 256lbs man and he's coordinated and smooth in his movement. He also has a good chin and was adept at turning his head at the last second to avert impact or take the sting off it and someone with that elusive style and movement should cause Arslanbek problems. However, he really didn't cause him any problems other being able to last into the 7th and making him miss with some shots and the only reason he was able to do that is because he fought very negatively and was in survival mode all night. Arslanbek won every round and I was actually impressed by his patience and him not allowing Rice's negative boxing and constant movement to frustrate him. And even though he wasn't landing clean half the time due to Rice's slickness, he actually punches at the right time and he landed some nice lead rights. The finishing sequence of shots was really impressive too. Huge right hand, followed by a short chopping one, then he switched it to a right uppercut, then another right, followed by 2 lefts and I think they all landed with the exception of the final left and that was because the ref had jumped between them by that point. And I think he has one of the best uppercuts in the game, let alone up at HW. It doesn't telegraph it at all when he throws it and it's really difficult to anticipate and defend against. I think it was a great learning fight and it's the second very durable opponent in a row he's stopped now who had never been stopped before. He might look like a big brute but you can see from his training videos that he's actually pretty athletic and has good hand speed for such a big, strong powerful man. This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected Playing squash with Beterbiev This content is protected
I have a suspicion that Sirenko is going to turn into a very solid fighter, but I just don’t see the grounds for rating him as well as you at this point. He’s done exactly what a top prospect should do against his opposition(save for going the distance with Woods maybe) but that doesn’t mean he is one. I’d be more willing to hop on his hype train at this stage if he was a more impressive amateur- he was good certainly, but never amongst the top 10 SHW at the time. The best guy there’s actual footage of him fighting is Frazer Clarke and he gets iced. I get he was young when he turned over, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need to see a lot more proof from him than a guy who’s already and established force like Dychko, despite his currently very poor resume.
