Ali "The Kazakh Tank/Batyr (Valiant Warrior)" Museyavich Baloyev

He's a stablemate and longtime buddy of another major Kazakh prospect of Kurdish descent, unbeaten light heavyweight WBC Youth champ Ali Bogadinovich Akhmedov. Baloyev, like Akhmedov, ought to have a higher number in his W column. The latter is missing a few seemingly legit professional bouts from his ledger that occurred in mid-2016 in Belarus. As for Baloyev, he's listed on BoxRec as 2-0 with a pair of KO1s, the first coming in March in Poland, but the article from above indicates he made his pro debut before that in February in Latvia, which means he should currently be at least 3-0 (3) - and that's assuming he didn't have any other matches in Latvia or Belarus or such a place in between March and his most recent outing a couple of weeks ago in Louisiana.

Baloyev is an interesting prospect, campaigning at CW (though in both the Nawrocki and Cunningham bouts listed on BoxRec, they went through as heavyweights bouts since nobody made weight, but it was still just a couple of pounds over 200) but reportedly used to fight super heavies pretty regularly in the amateurs, with mostly decent results...kind of like Usyk, although nowhere close to Usyk's level of competition or achievement, nor are they stylistically all that similar as Baloev is very locked into his role as puncher and not half the cutie-pie the Ukrainian is. Most notably he upset Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan (who later represented them in the Olympics in 2016) in the 91kg+ semifinal of the Shokhr Boltekuly Tournament but had to withdraw before the gold match (perhaps injured, not really sure).

He's fluid and surprisingly agile for his bulky frame with its top-heavy distribution of thickly knotted muscle across his back and upper arms. He's built like a Firat Arslan but can move around the ring like a Grigory Drozd and seems to have Darnell Wilson power, to put him in perspective of cruisers from recent yesteryear. He also invests pretty heavily in body punching, which is nice to see is becoming a trend in a lot of the developing talents from Kazakhstan. Remains to be seen when he steps up in class what he can do when he faces somebody with a pulse and the inclination and schooling to attempt to outbox him, or how good his chin is or how well he responds mentally when somebody that can also crack gives it back to him...but for now, he's looking the part of an exciting new addition to a division that is already burgeoning with promising young blood.

Pro debut (maybe officially sanctioned, maybe not?):
https://vk.com/video406742602_456239072?list=f48dd37e108b5695d8

2nd bout, full:

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2nd & 3rd bouts, highlights, set to weird music:

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Yeah, it can also be translated as like "Glorious Hero" or something along those lines.

 

Wait... three no contests in a row?? From what, head clashes?

 

6-0 (5) now; he fought thrice just last month.