I don’t think Ibragimov had the power or aggressive style to stop or badly hurt Jimmy. And a prime Ellis would bring a lot more rigor to the game than the ancient versions of Holyfield, Briggs and Austin. I got Jimmy by decision. Probably a dull fight
Jimmy Ellis by decision. Sultan Ibragimov didn't have the career he deserved; we never even saw him reach his full potential. What's certain is that he was better than Maskaev, but inferior to Povetkin/Chagaev. His boxing style was limited offensively, his rhythm very erratic, which gave Ellis time to impose his style, and his jab-straight right combinations were very predictable and robotic. Ibragimov certainly had good fundamentals, but he lacked the power and ring intelligence despite his excellent mobility at heavyweight.
I think that Ibragimov was somewhat better than his record suggests. Outside of Wlad himself, he was the belt holder who most actively pursued unification. He tried to get a unification fight with Chagaev, before he got one with Wlad, now there's a fascinating what if. In the end he lost his unification fight against Wlad, and he was forced into a premature retirement by chronic hand problems.
