Zaur Magomedalievich Abdullaev vs Ricardo Antonio Núñez & Georgy Yunovidov vs Arslan Yallyev RBR.

Round 6

Núñez is spiraling in, getting off in pairs or threes and circling away. Núñez mixing to head and body. Abdullaev just waiting, shelled up, shoulders hiked, very rigid & tense looking. Abdullaev finally unloads with a series of power shots, high clubbing rights and sweeping hooks at the body, but Núñez is able to slip and cruise away from any potential damage. Abdullaev lunging now with spiteful 1-2s, everything carrying fight-ending intent, but just tremendously buttoned-down defense by Núñez, outmaneuvering him (although not himself landing as much as in rounds 3-5).

10-9 Núñez

57-56 Núñez

 

Round 7

Núñez is pawing out jabs in multiples to warn Abdullaev off while backed against the ropes, then Núñez flees and circles outside, popping in pot shot lead rights before resuming his lateral movement. Abdullaev is just following Núñez until he pivots a meter out from each corner, not really cutting the ring off, at most getting a tiny piece of Núñez's head with cuffing left hooks on the front-foot. Núñez occasionally letting himself drift into the ropes but there doing his best work, baiting Abdullaev in and unleashing shoeshines into the guard to fix Abdullaev's hands in place and then shredding the body. Núñez with a 1-2 flush, Abdullaev tries decapitating him with a hook and misses very widely.

10-9 Núñez

67-65 Núñez

 

If he doesn't gas and implode down the stretch this is a supremely impressive turnaround.

 

Round 8

Abdullaev recommitting to a hard jab coming in. Abdullaev clearly upset at his low rate of accuracy in recent frames. Abdullaev staying in Núñez's chest, jabbing at his face. Abdullaev now with straight combos. Núñez put in a corner and hurt! Crowd getting riled up. Abdullaev in full Terminator mode now. Very wary body language by Núñez, taking evasive action, throwing just one jab before squeezing his arms together protectively over his face. Abdullaev keeps pressuring, ignoring some peacock feather ocmbos by Núñez, and keeping glued to him with mere inches separating them. Núñez starts to jab into the guard and hack down with his right hand, landing on Abdullaev's left shoulder. Both men tired. Abdullaev with some uninspired hooks, blocked.

10-9 Abdullaev

76-75 Núñez

 

Round 9

Núñez is blocking Abdullaev jabs for a moment, then steps in firing straights and their legs almost entangle as he winds up walking past a spinning Abdullaev. Quick jabs on the nose by Abdullaev, emphasizing speed over to power to rack up points. Núñez jumps in, smothering, and tapping on the ribs of Abdullaev with light hooks. Núñez all over him, actually, pushing him into the ropes with shots from either hand ranging from beltline to upper chest. Abdullaev pins his elbows to his sides, face sandwiched by his gloves, and rides it out, then rips into Núñez with some hard body hooks of hiw own. Abdullaev smacks the bejezus outta Núñez with a sudden left hook up top as Núñez had momentarily lowered his hands thinking he was out of range.

10-9 Abdullaev

85-85

 

I'll take "fights that have no business entering a tenth round for a thousand, Alex".

(not just entering a tenth, but hanging in the balance -and we started with a brutal yeet-in-the-air jab knockdown!)

 

This is actually right where I tuned in originally, live. Still don't know the result.

 

Round 10

Núñez is taking control early, throwing 1-2s and pull-back pinball-launcher lead rights while circling in close on Abdullaev. Very little offense from Abdullaev, in fact practically none in the first half-minute, biding his time. Núñez working steadily, chipping away on Abdullaev's gloves and forearms, looking to penetrate. Abdullaev very infrequently popping a hard jab or slashing the air with a hook. Both men headhunting, after having invested heavily in each other's torsos for much of the middle of the contest. Abdullaev reaches to maximum extension with a 1-2 and then shovels a right at the body, forcing Núñez to hold. They flurry back and forth, both landing some and getting blocked some. Abdullaev with the fiercer, heavier blows - Núñez with the quicker hands and higher volume, albeit in bursts. Núñez ducks and hurls a counter right into Abdullaev's face while under fire. Goddamn. There is the bell. I'm having a heck of a time picking a winner of this round...and no pressure or anything, since it only decides the whole affair on my card. I almost want to say 10-10.

10-9 Abdullaev by a cunthair

95-94 Abdullaev

 

They share a warm embrace and smile, having earned mutual respect. Nice display of sportsmanship.

 

I don't speak Russian so the reading of the scorecards means nothing to me, off to check on Twitter...

HOLY CRAP

Official cards:

99-90
98-91
98-91

UD for Abdullaev

Right man but WTF?

 

That is such a slap in Núñez's face, to not credit the huge amount of effort the Panamanian put in to claw his way back into the fight. Abdullaev himself clearly felt he was pushed to his limit by a worthy opponent.

Just a single round?!? Even the other couple of judges, only two?

 

So this circus act was actually the "main event"; I didn't care about it anyway but the YT stream has now been set to private, oh well:

This content is protected

 

How very munificent of them.

Seems to me they could have just not inexplicably set the video to private mid-stream, but hey what do I know?

Shame, because I feel like the schlub in the Warner Bros cartoons about Michigan J. Frog, yelling from the mountaintop about both Nunez's bravery, skillful combination punching, and strategic brilliance taking the initiative in beating his opponent to the punch for the better part of six rounds, and also Abdullaev's absurd heavy-handedness (lethal KO power in his jab!!) and unflappable patience in both picking his spots and ratcheting up the aggression when he smelled blood in the water and saw Núñez tiring.

Since nobody else saw it, I guess there can't be any card comparisons, so people can choose to either take my word or the official judges'.

I rarely rewatch fights nowadays, but this might even have been one I'd want to revisit at some point.

 

Good ol' Panamanian patriots coming through:

This content is protected

Quality is crap, but...beats nothing.