Under the Radar HW fight 5/17 Arslanbek vs Rice

Makhmudov won by seventh-round TKO. I haven't watched the fight but from what I read about it Makhmudov had a lot of troubles with Rice's movement and couldn't cut the distance until Rice begun to tire. Makhmudov couldn't land anything serious until the end of round four according to reports.

While his power, size and killer instinct are great, Makhmudov's limitations are very obvious too - he is one-dimentional, can't cut the ring efficiently against a fighter with a good footwork and is very slow on his feet. I don't think he will ever be a champion - Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk would clown him with easy. He won't win a single minute against either of them. Hell, I'd even favour Hughie Fury to beat him. But against the guys who are willing to trade - guys like Kownacki - he will have his chances.

 

I saw the fight from round 4. While Makhmudov was having troubles with Rice movement, he was outboxing him, he didn't lose a round, Rice was fighting quite negative, the same Rice that took rounds of olympic gold medallist Tony Yoka, I think Makhmudov looked good

 

While he's slow on his feet Makhmudov knows his strengths well...He's an absolutely huge puncher with good speed for such a big guy and seems to have a good chin also...Yeah he's still raw but he paced himself well yesterday and really turned it on late without any problems when he started smelling blood.

 

Yes, I just watched the fight (thanks to @Serge). Makhmudov is definitely very dancgerous, but I think his flaws will be with him forever. Usyk and Tyson Fury will be terrible match ups for him stylistically, but even on the "prospect level" I can't see him winning against Hrgovich, who is much qiuicker and way more skilled.

 

I'd like to see Russian top-3 prospects (Romanov, Makhmudov and Kuzmin) face each other, although I know it won't happen. Romanov, in my opinion, is the most skilled and smartest one amongst them, but unfortunately he is too small.

 

Does Hrgovic has the chin to last 10 or 12 with the Lion? All it takes from him is one clean shot and when the guy is hurt he finishes him. He will surely get outboxed but soon or later he can catch him and take him out too...

 

I agree, but Makhmudov has that kind of power that can change everything with one punch, so he will have high chances of upset someone like Fury or Usyk that would outbox him relatively easy

 

I agree Romanov is skilled but as you said his size will be his downfall.

 

Very good victory by Makhmudov.

 

I have a suspicion that Sirenko is going to turn into a very solid fighter, but I just don’t see the grounds for rating him as well as you at this point. He’s done exactly what a top prospect should do against his opposition(save for going the distance with Woods maybe) but that doesn’t mean he is one. I’d be more willing to hop on his hype train at this stage if he was a more impressive amateur- he was good certainly, but never amongst the top 10 SHW at the time. The best guy there’s actual footage of him fighting is Frazer Clarke and he gets iced. I get he was young when he turned over, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need to see a lot more proof from him than a guy who’s already and established force like Dychko, despite his currently very poor resume.