On the Charlo vs. Harrison II undercard, airing on PBC on Fox a week from Saturday. 10 rounds @ heavyweight; neither has any hardware to put at stake, nor are they currently ranked top 15 by any major org. Kiladze, a Georgian based in the Ukrainian city of Donestk before relocating to Los Angeles when he linked up with Freddie Roach, was a rising prospect at cruiser until Youri Kalenga dealt his first loss via KO in 2013. Within two years, the 6′ 3½″ quick-handed puncher had reestablished himself at heavyweight, and no sooner had begun to gain a head of steam than had a horrendous 2018. He was stopped thrice in a row, by Adam Kownacki, Michael Hunter, and Joe Joyce. He rebounded to snap that slump this May with an eight-round split draw against unbeaten Cuban super heavy Robert Alfonso. Ajagba, perhaps still best remembered for scaring an opponent from the ring before the first bell even rang (Curtis Harper, although rumors abound that Harper staged the whole scandalous incident as some kind of "protest" about unfair treatment by promoters and/or managers), has conversely had as great a 2019 as last year was terrible for Kiladze. He stopped Amir Mansour and Michael Wallisch and widely outpointed Ali Eren Demirezen in his three biggest steps up to date. The shredded giant from Nigeria still isn't the most polished heavyweight, but his power at least seems to be very real.
I feel bad for Kiladze. He really isn't bad for a HW. With the right management and maneuvering he probably could have been a contender with a good payday or two. But he's hell bent on getting pulverized by blue chip prospects. I mean..... Kiladze skill wise>>>> Browne or Hammer easy. Especially the former.
