Israil Modrahimovich Madrimov vs. Michel Abou Soro & Bektemir Melikuziev vs. Sergei Ekimov RBR

I avoided reading anything on Twitter, for obvious reasons, I didn't want it spoiled. But I thought while Israil was more active in the first three, he was barely landing anything clean because Soro's defense was so tight, and while yes... his output was far from impressive, most of Soro's shots were far cleaner. So even though he was still groggy, he was still blocking punches in his sleep.

 

Madrimov, like Bek the Bully's pudgy ass), belongs a weight class South of the one he campaigns in. He certainly possesses plenty of power for 154, but he looks undersized at that weight class and even he admits he could easily make 147. His power would be devastating down at 147. Controversy aside, in just his 8th fight he hurt Soro who is very tough and an excellent fighter badly and obviously he's scored some spectacular KOs and stopped some very durable fighters at 154

On choosing to compete at 154 lbs:

“To be honest, I could easily make 147lbs. I walk around at roughly 160-164lbs, so it would not be a difficult cut for me. Some welterweights like Errol Spence are bigger than me, even. But I did not want to compete there, because my priority is winning world titles and I knew that it would be very hard to get a title shot in the division. The way boxing politics is, the best at the weight would have avoided me.

154lbs is much better for me - it is a very open division, the titles change hands a lot but there are many good fighters who I can beat to build my legacy. I want the biggest fights, and I will get them in this division. When some of the welterweights like Spence and Garcia move up as well, they will be more likely to face me if I am champion.”

 

I was so pissed about that I went outside and did yard work for like an hour. I had to angrily hack the hell out of some vines to make myself feel better.