Late last year Russian Khabib Allakhverdiev (18-0, 8) announced himself to the wider boxing public by inflicting the first loss on to the career of Dominican Joan Guzman. With that victory Allakhverdiev claimed the then vacant WBA Light Welterweight title, a belt that he defends for the first time this coming Saturday against Frenchman Souleymane M'baye (40-4-1, 22), himself a former holder of the title.
Aged 30 Allakhverdiev, dubbed "The Hawk", is in his pomp. He is a physically strong fighter who appears to be at his best coming forward and forcing the action, though he can fight well on the backfoot as well when needed. Although his record doesn't show it, he hits with stinging force, and whilst no single shot is necessarily concussive the accumulation of accurate clean shots does tend to take it's toll.
The worry when fighting Allakhverdiev is that he's got an impressive overall package. As mentioned he's not concussive but he's aggressive, he's not lightning quick, but yet he's still fast, he's not elusive, but he is defensively sound. There's very little that really stands out as a true weakness, he just does a lot very well.
Although the 140lbs Light Welterweight division is one of the strongest in the sport Allakhverdiev is possibly the most over-looked fighter there. Sure I wouldn't favour him over Matthysse (but then again who would you favour over Matthysse at 140?) or Garcia but he's certainly in the top 10 in the division.
Sadly boxing politics seems to be against actually letting us find out just how good Allakhverdiev really as the smart people at the WBA have somehow come to the conclusion that M'baye is the top contender. This is the same M'baye who is 38, with just a sole win (from 2 bouts) in the last 3 years, the same M'baye who had numerous controversial decisions in his favour in prime (including a decision over and a draw with Andriy Kotelnik and decisions over Barrie Jones and Colin Lynes) and the guy who no-showed in the ring against Gavin Rees.
At his best M'baye was stopping Ameth Diaz, out pointing Khalid Rahilou and stopping Raul Horacio Balbi. At his worst he was boring our pants off, unfortunately that came more often than not.
To be bluntly honest, how M'baye is even ranked is mystery. In his prime he was decent, certainly a divisional top 10 fighter but very much a paper champion (as his reign as the WBA Light Welterweight champion in 2006-2007 and WBA interim champion in 2010-2011 showed) and his reigns were weak to say the very least.
Although I hate the WBA for having M'baye in another title fight I think the sordid side of me needs to thank them here because as far as I can see Allakhverdiev going to beat him in to a very painful retirement and finally rid us of "The Sensation".
Prediction-Allakhverdiev TKO7
Showing posts with label Khabib Allakhverdiev. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Khabib Allakhverdiev. Show all posts
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Thursday, 29 November 2012
Joan Guzman v Khabib Allakhverdiev
The vacant WBA Light Welterweight title is up for grabs this coming Friday as unbeaten's collide with Domican Joan Guzman (33-0-1-1, 20) facing Russian Khabib Allakhverdiev (17-0, 8) in a very interesting match up.
Going in to this match up it's fair to suggest that Guzman is the favourite. He's a much more proven fighter and has shown real quality as he's claimed world titles at both Super Bantamweight and Super Featherweight, and was also close to claiming a world title at Lightweight. However the fact this bout is at Light Welterweight and Guzman is getting on does perhaps level the playing field somewhat.
At some 36 years old Guzman isn't a spring chicken any more. In his prime he was lightening quick fighter with hands, feet and his brain, he could make very good fighters look very silly as he did to Humberto Soto and Terdsak Kokietgym. Despite his ability however Guzman's problems lay with his attitude and he was lazy both in and out of the ring. Out of the ring this laziness showed as he missed numerous weigh-ins in fact shockingly he came in over 9lbs above the Lightweight limit in an IBF Lightweight title bout. however in the ring laziness has seen him almost losing several times.
I terms of natural skill Guzman is genuinely special. He had all the skill a fighter could wish for, he had the ability to unleash combinations that looked not only fluid but effortless and he could could box equally as well on the front foot and the back foot. It was little wonder that only a few years ago many were putting Guzman in their pound-for-pound lists. Though as mentioned his laziness has almost cost him with Ali Funeka and Jorge Rodrigo Barrios both coming close to taking Guzman's unbeaten record.
Also at Light Welterweight it needs to be said that Guzman's punch resistance may not be great and his power is very unlikely to be as hurtful as his record perhaps shows (he currently has a 57% KO rate as it is, so it's not hard to assume that some Light Welters would literally walk through him).
Whilst Guzman is well known by boxing fans, Russian Khabib Allakhverdiev is much more obscure despite having split his career between his native Russia and the USA (where he has surprisingly fought 8 times). The fact he has fought half his career in the US may well serve him well here.
Having been a professional since 2007 Allakhverdiev has swiftly but quietly risen up the rankings with both Ring (#6) and Boxrec (#8) ranking him highly. These rankings have been helped by a number of notable victories including a technical decision victory over Nate Campbell and stoppages over Ignacio Mendoza and Kaizer Mabuza, with the Mabuza victory being hugely impressive.
In terms of his style Allakhverdiev doesn't have the typical straight up Russian style that you may expect. He's got notable signs of his US based early career with a lot of movement, and some vicious body work, though appears to be a fighter who whilst skilled can be made to miss and a good skilled fighter would likely be able to make him pay for his defensive issues. However he hits a lot harder than his record shows and when he turns it on he is very fun to watch. In fact it's genuinely shocking that his KO rate is less than 50% with his power and aggression.
In terms of the actual bout, this really is an issue of just how much does Guzman have left in the tank? If Guzman is half the fighter he once was, he really could do a number on Allakhverdiev's jaw with sharp accurate counters, however if the former Super Bantamweight gets caught by Allakhverdiev's straight left hand he could well be in a world of pain, and with Guzman's age and slowing reactions that is a real possibility.
I'm guessing that Guzman just has enough to take this, but I do expect him to be in real problems at times as Allakhverdiev simply imposes himself for sections of the bout.
Prediction-Guzman Decision.
Going in to this match up it's fair to suggest that Guzman is the favourite. He's a much more proven fighter and has shown real quality as he's claimed world titles at both Super Bantamweight and Super Featherweight, and was also close to claiming a world title at Lightweight. However the fact this bout is at Light Welterweight and Guzman is getting on does perhaps level the playing field somewhat.
At some 36 years old Guzman isn't a spring chicken any more. In his prime he was lightening quick fighter with hands, feet and his brain, he could make very good fighters look very silly as he did to Humberto Soto and Terdsak Kokietgym. Despite his ability however Guzman's problems lay with his attitude and he was lazy both in and out of the ring. Out of the ring this laziness showed as he missed numerous weigh-ins in fact shockingly he came in over 9lbs above the Lightweight limit in an IBF Lightweight title bout. however in the ring laziness has seen him almost losing several times.
I terms of natural skill Guzman is genuinely special. He had all the skill a fighter could wish for, he had the ability to unleash combinations that looked not only fluid but effortless and he could could box equally as well on the front foot and the back foot. It was little wonder that only a few years ago many were putting Guzman in their pound-for-pound lists. Though as mentioned his laziness has almost cost him with Ali Funeka and Jorge Rodrigo Barrios both coming close to taking Guzman's unbeaten record.
Also at Light Welterweight it needs to be said that Guzman's punch resistance may not be great and his power is very unlikely to be as hurtful as his record perhaps shows (he currently has a 57% KO rate as it is, so it's not hard to assume that some Light Welters would literally walk through him).
Whilst Guzman is well known by boxing fans, Russian Khabib Allakhverdiev is much more obscure despite having split his career between his native Russia and the USA (where he has surprisingly fought 8 times). The fact he has fought half his career in the US may well serve him well here.
Having been a professional since 2007 Allakhverdiev has swiftly but quietly risen up the rankings with both Ring (#6) and Boxrec (#8) ranking him highly. These rankings have been helped by a number of notable victories including a technical decision victory over Nate Campbell and stoppages over Ignacio Mendoza and Kaizer Mabuza, with the Mabuza victory being hugely impressive.
In terms of his style Allakhverdiev doesn't have the typical straight up Russian style that you may expect. He's got notable signs of his US based early career with a lot of movement, and some vicious body work, though appears to be a fighter who whilst skilled can be made to miss and a good skilled fighter would likely be able to make him pay for his defensive issues. However he hits a lot harder than his record shows and when he turns it on he is very fun to watch. In fact it's genuinely shocking that his KO rate is less than 50% with his power and aggression.
In terms of the actual bout, this really is an issue of just how much does Guzman have left in the tank? If Guzman is half the fighter he once was, he really could do a number on Allakhverdiev's jaw with sharp accurate counters, however if the former Super Bantamweight gets caught by Allakhverdiev's straight left hand he could well be in a world of pain, and with Guzman's age and slowing reactions that is a real possibility.
I'm guessing that Guzman just has enough to take this, but I do expect him to be in real problems at times as Allakhverdiev simply imposes himself for sections of the bout.
Prediction-Guzman Decision.
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