Magomed Kurbanov will fight for a gift on March 8

Russian boxer Magomed Kurbanov can become the world champion in the junior middle weight (up to 69.9 kg) in two weeks. To win the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) title, Kurbanov, who has long been in line behind him, will need to defeat in Saudi Arabia, who has only ten fights on his record, but, it seems, is still a very dangerous Uzbek fighter Israil Madrimov.

The promotion company RCC Boxing Promotions, which works with the Russian, announced that Magomed Kurbanov will fight on March 8 in Saudi Arabia with Israil Madrimov for the World Boxing Association world champion title in junior middleweight. A recording of the fight also appeared on the BoxRec website. The fight will take place as part of an extremely large show in Riyadh. The central event in his program will be a match between two famous heavyweights – Briton Anthony Joshua, the ex-king of the category, and Cameroonian Francis Ngannou. Ngannou is among the main heroes of professional boxing in 2023. Being the champion of the UFC, the main mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, he unexpectedly escaped from it and made a bright debut in a new genre, almost defeating the owner of the WBC belt Tyson Fury.

Kurbanov and Madrimov will fight for the vacant title. It became vacant in January when the WBA took away American superstar Jermell Charlo, who not so long ago was the undisputed junior middleweight world champion, has it.

But everything changed after he was assigned a fight against Australian Tim Tszyu, the son of Russian boxing legend Konstantin Tszyu, who gained enormous popularity. Charlo initially refused to meet with him due to an injury, and after recovering, he suddenly ignored it for the sake of a fight against the outstanding Mexican Saul Alvarez in the super middleweight (up to 76.2 kg). Charlo lost to Alvarez, and the World Boxing Organization (WBO), considering the American’s refusal to fight against Tszyu to be inconsistent with the regulations, immediately gave the title to the Australian. The WBA, which pointed out the uncertainty in which category Jermell Charlo is going to continue his career, arranged a fight for his belt between the two most worthy, according to the structure, applicants.

There is actually nothing strange in the fact that Magomed Kurbanov, who is 28 years old, got a chance to win the championship title.

Kurbanov is not as promoted as some other Russian boxers, but for several years now he has occupied high places in the official rankings of the structures that control professional boxing.

And his track record, which includes 25 victories with no misfires, does not look “inflated.” In the current decade, Kurbanov met with former world champions in his category – Briton Liam Smith and Brazilian Patrick Teixeira, and secured contender status by defeating the famous Frenchman Michel Soro last May. True, all of his most important battles turned out to be extremely difficult. He defeated Smith, Teixeira, and Soro on points, and the Frenchman by a split decision, which some experts found controversial.

Magomed Kurbanov’s rival is a very interesting character. Israil Madrimov’s track record makes it tempting to label him a clear outsider. After all, there are only ten fights in it. But in reality the situation is much more complicated.

Madrimov, who is already 29 years old and who performed well as an amateur, having won, say, gold at the Asian Championship, turned professional in 2015 and immediately demonstrated extraordinary knockout talent (in this sense, he is seriously different from Kurbanov with his more subtle style). In particular, he helped him defeat the same Soro in 2021. Madrimov’s abilities so impressed boxing officials that a number of media resources had no doubt that he would soon be given the opportunity to fight Jermell Charlo. Israil Madrimov was prevented by something like an accident. In 2022, he had a rematch with Michel Soro. In the third round, the opponents collided heads, and the Frenchman was unable to continue the fight due to a severe cut. As a result, a draw was recorded, which did not allow the Uzbek boxer to gain a foothold in the elite part of the ratings.

Alexey Dospehov