ByErik Schmid July 29, 2009 Ibragimov then successfully defended his title against former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield in October 2007, beating Holyfield by a lopsided 12 round decision in Moscow, Russia. However, Ibragimov would then lose his WBO heavyweight title in a one-sided 12 round decision against 6’6” Wladimir Klitschko in February 2008. Only 6’2” 219, Ibragimov was far too small to compete against the much taller Klitschko and was unable to get close enough to land anything of substance. A counter puncher by nature, Ibragimov was given no opportunities to land his left handed shots, because Wladimir rarely took chances in the fight, staying on the outside and using mostly his jab the entire fight. In the later rounds when Ibragimov was way behind in the fight and desperately trying to attack Wladimir to make something happen, Wladimir would quickly back away or clinch Ibragimov to prevent him from landing anything. The Madison Square Garden crowd in New York booed the fight in the later rounds and were very unhappy with the lack of action between the two fighters. It’s hard to blame Ibragimov because he was at least trying to make something happen, but he was simply too short to compete adequately against the towering Klitschko. It was assumed by many that Ibragimov would retool his offense and then go after WBA middleweight champion Ruslan Chagaev. This was an opponent that the southpaw Ibragimov would have done well against with his powerful straight left hand, and crafty counter punching style of fighting. However, instead Ibragimov stayed away from the ring and now hasn’t fought in close to year and a half. Besides his time at heavyweight, Ibragimov defeated Lance “Mount” Whitaker by a 7th round knockout in December 2005, and Zuri Lawrence by a 11th round TKO in April 2005. One hopes that Ibragimov changes his mind about his boxing career in the future, because he still had far too much left to retire at this early stage in his career. Of course, he would probably never be able to beat the Klitschko brothers due to his lack of size, but he would have been problems for Nikolay Valuev and Chagaev, and would have had an excellent chance of beating them. Here The Link http://www.boxingnews24.com/2009/07/sultan-ibragimov-retires-boxing/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYFQvN9Shns&feature=related
I saw the fight and disagree with the notion that Ibragimov was "trying to make something happen". Sultan willingly stayed on the outside, apparently to avoid getting hurt. I also don't share the idea that Ibragimov "was too small to compete". Smaller guys have been beating bigger guys since before John L Sullivan. Ibragimov can stayed retired for all I care. One less pugdy, unmotivated, one dimensional Russian won't be missed, except , obviously by the thread starter.
:goodi think we can say pudgy, unmotivated one dimensional=all current non-klitschko heavyweights (from europe, asia, america or ****ing pluto)
It was Wlad going for powerpunches and landing some, sitting Ibragimov on the ropes, while Ibragimov was leaning so far back it was impossible to hit him. However, that slapping the jab down was illegal.
It was a great fight from Wlad who shows that he can handle a quick southpaw and stick to the game plan.
