I think Holyfield takes a brutal beat down and gets stopped in 8:!: Though I hope I am wrong and real deal pull one out of the hat:hat
I want to think that Holyfield will win. But he is really old as a boxer. His heart will be there but I doubt if his body can catch up with his heart.
As much as I want Holy to win as he is one of my all time favorite fighters, I give him a slim chance. The reason is because in the recent years every time he met a decent opponent, he got beat up, and I consider Ibragimov to be at least decent.
The Ring Magazine December 2007 issue pages 124-127 ( section Showdown -WBO Heavyweight Title) break it and predict as the Outcome ( bottom page 127) - fresher Ibragimov's (32) younger reflexes allow him to withstand steady pressure from the well-conditioned ex-champ ( Holyfield 44) and box his way to a close UD... I have to say this may be taken as senseful and non-biased analysis and prediction but the same cannot be said of the fact of The Ring not rating Holyfield and mentioning at the end of that very same article that that close points loss would convince Holyfield to continue his delusional quest to regain the heavyweight crown... So forget about the biased article and have in mind that when Sultan became pro in May 02, Holy was a former 4 time hwt titlist and that Iggy's best opposition was Al Cole ( KO 3), Zuri Lawrence ( KO 11), Lance Whitaker (KO 11), Ray Austin ( Draw 12) and Shannon Briggs ( UD 12) so every second will count and I state Iggy definitely has to rely that the best in the older version of Holy doesn't show up at the Kjodynak Palace, Moskow, next Sat night.
Holyfield will have to KO or at least score some knockdowns to win in Russia, he wasn't a big puncher in his prime let alone now at 45, it isn't gonna happen. Holyfield's gonna eat a lot of leather in this fight and with his never say die mentality, gonna take a lot of punishment in the process, i hope they have good medical personnell at ringside and a good Doctor in his corner, he wanted this so it's hard to feel to sorry for him if he gets a hard beatdown..:dead
