2000 Olympic Silver Medallist Sultan Ibragmov and his older cousin, Timur, invaded The Orleans boxing show put on by Guilty Boxing Friday Night. Sultan won in the main event over last minute replacement Andy Sample in the first round, knocking Sample down three times. Timur fought a lively Rogerio Lobo, knocking him out in the fourth round. The night was solid with good matchmaking as well as a enthusiastic crowd.
The night started off with supper middleweights, Cleiton Conceicao (6-0, 5 KO’s), of Brazil, knocking out local boy Leroy Brooks (12-6, 6 KO’s) in the second round. Replays on the screens showed that a headbutt and not a punch was the culprit of the knock out, ala Shane Mosley. Nonetheless Conceicao received the win. Next up welterweights with Israel’s Merhav Mohar (16-1, 7 KO’s) won an unpopular decision by the scores of 58-57 and 58-56 twice, over Carlos C. Escobar (12-10-2, 6 KO’s) of Culiacan, Mexico. Merhav started early and built up a good lead, however, Escobar started to come on in the later rounds to close the gap. Escobar ran out of rounds much to the dismay of the crowd.
The semi main event was up next, and as mentioned previously, Timur Ibragimov knocked out Rogerio Lobo with beautiful counter right 51 seconds into the fourth round. Lobo tried to hang and fight, however, Timur’s punches were more accurate. Lobo left himself wide open and Timur took advantage of the situation and knocked out Lobo. At first the crowd as well as Lobo protest Richard Steele for possibly stopping the fight too early not realizing that he made it to the count of ten. After the ring announcer stated Steele reached the count of ten the boo’s ended.
In the fight of the night Gabriel Cruz (6-0, 1 KO) won a 6 round decision over Makhmud Qtazhanov (3-3, 3 KO’s) by the scores of 60-54 and 58-56 twice. Both fighters exchanged bombs with both fighters hurt at times. In the sixth round Cruz poored it on nearly knocking his foe out. Qtazhanov continued to fight gamely, however, he could not get the leverage in his shots he needed to keep Cruz off of him. One fan commented that it was a really good fight, not the best fighters in the world, however they provided a very entertaining bout.
If Sultan Ibragmov came to Vegas to impress the boxing world he certain did with his first round knockout of Andy Sample. Sample, who took the fight on short notice had a soft midsection the allowed Sultan to utilize excellent body work to knock Sample down twice in the first middle. Sample tried his hardest to get out of the round, however, Sultan finally connected with a great combination to the boday and the head to put Sample to sleep. With the win Sultan goes to 17-0 with 15 KO’s. Sample is now 32-11-2 with 21KO’s.
The night was finished off with Carlos Mota winner a technical decision over Rudy Cruz Jr. The night was filled with very good fights and matchmaking, the next Guilt Boxing show is July 1 at The Orleans.
