Agit Kabayel burst the bubble of the giant Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov in hugely impressive fashion on the massive ‘Day of Reckoning’ show in Riyadh on Saturday night.
Kabayel had Makhmudov down three times en route to a fourth-round stoppage victory, ending the unbeaten record of his huge opponent.
DAZN: Sign up to watch the biggest fights!
Makhmudov came in with 17 knockouts from 18 bouts, with many of those opponents failing to make it out of the opening session. Kabayel though is made of sterner stuff.
The giant Makhmudov was clearly intent on doing serious damage to yet another foe as he tried to unload those massive right-hand bombs onto his much smaller opponent. But Agit was faster, classier and clearly a man with a plan. He showed as much with a couple of classy counters in Round 1.
We got more of the same in the second with Makhmudov taking centre ring and operating on the front foot as he tried to detonate those big shots on European champion Kabayel. The German though had his own successes and was starting to box nicely off the back foot.
Kabayel bursts a giant bubble
The third round was terrific stuff with neither man taking a backward step. It was Kabayel who took control with two massive right hands over the top which had Makhmudov in serious trouble. He also started to work the Russian’s body with some cracking punches, while Makhmudov was still dangerous with counters.
Makhmudov had never really been tested before, but now he was heading out to deep waters early in the fourth. It was cracking action again with both men winging away, but now it was Kabayel landing all the key shots. He hit home with a couple of stunning uppercuts followed by a body shot which had the giant Russian down. He was hurt and clearly exhausted, but up at nine.
While Kabayel was very much on top, there was not much in the way of defence forthcoming from Makhmudov, and the assault from the German continued. The second knockdown came midway through the session after a sustained flurry and now it seemed only a matter of time before the end came.
While Kabayel had started his assault by battering the head of Makhmudov, it was the body shots which closed the show, as he landed a string of them to send Makhmudov down again, paving the way for Steve Gray to wave it off.
It was a terrific performance from Kabayel (now 24-0), producing the perfect gameplan to outsmart the powerful but limited Makhmudov. And he claimed an impressive win to remain unbeaten in great style.
