Tune in May 25th for ESPN2 FNF: Ji Hoon Kim vs. Alisher Rahimov

Kim is never in a snoozer, and Rahimov is something special. Some of us worldly boxing connoisseurs got a few sneak peeks at him last year on a couple big Russian events (against Rustam Nagaev on the Dmitry Pirog vs. Javier Maciel undercard, and against Saddam Kietyongyuth on the Ruslan Provodnikov vs. DeMarcus Corley undercard) but now is his chance to impress an American TV audience.

Or rather...his second chance - and against the same opponent!

Originally there was supposed to be a January 27th FNF doubleheader pitting Provodnikov against Julio Diaz and Kim against Rahimov. For whatever reason, Rahimov couldn't clear visas at the time so Kim wound up getting Yakubu Amidu (Vince Vaughn's guy) as a replacement. Provodnikov also had a change in opponent, to David Torres...also a downgrade. A potentially exciting card became a bit of a dud.

All's well that ends well, though. We are finally getting one half of that doubleheader. Unfortunately the rest of the card looks like crap. Worth tuning in for the main event, though.


With Kim, WYSIWYG. Come-forward brawler. Value for money. With Rahimov...I'll let his performance this Friday speak for itself. Let's just say varied attacks, bursts of extreme lightning aggression, ring generalship like a boss...more power than his record suggests, too.

Then again, they don't call Kim the Volcano for nothing. He is always a live wire.

Friday @ 9pm EST...

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Either a star is born with a defining breakout performance...or a proven action hero throws back an unbeaten prospect. :deal

 

Poll added.

 

Interesting bit of boxing lore on Kim, a prime example of A>B>C =/= C>A...

Ji Hoon Kim KO1 Ameth Diaz
Ameth Diaz KO5 Leonardo Zappavigna
Leonardo Zappavigna KO1 Ji Hoon Kim

:nut





He also had a turbulent back-and-forth two minute war in with Koba Gogoladze, who hurt him early before Kim ultimately came back and scored a KO1 in his FNF debut.

His only other stoppage loss was a 1st round KO early in his career.

 

Ali Rahimov, by the way, is ranked WBO #2 at lightweight. (Kim is unranked)

Victory on Friday could secure his position as the next mandatory contender for the Burns vs. Mitchell winner.

For Kim, it could launch him into the mix and leapfrog him over much of the top ten's back end.

 

If you look at his recent history, though - Ali isn't much fussed by giving away size, or going to the trenches.

Previously unbeaten Thai banger Saddam "Da Bomb" Kietyongyuth had a couple of inches on him and got soundly thrashed.

Rustam "The Mongoose" Nagaev - a capable contender with some solid wins - is even taller than Kim. Rahimov edged him clearly in a brutal FOTY candidate, where Nagaev's corner came close to stopping it a few times. :think

 

Ali Rahimov's four biggest wins:


Saddam "Da Bomb" Kietyongyuth
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Rustam "The Mongoose" Nagaev
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Sergio "Cocaine" Thompson, who recently upset Jorge Linares via 2nd round knockout
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Oleg Yefimovich, unbeaten at the time and went on to be long-reigning European featherweight champion
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