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| Date | 13 October 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Khodynka Ice Palace, Moscow, Russia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBO heavyweight title | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ibragimov defeated Holyfield via Unanimous Decision | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sultan Ibragimov vs. Evander Holyfield , was a professional boxing match contested on 13 October 2007 for the WBO heavyweight championship. [1]
Shortly after Ibragimov's decision victory over Shannon Briggs to win the WBO belt in June 2007, Ibragimov signed the contract to face then-WBA world heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev in a unification showdown that would take place in Moscow on 13 October 2007. "I gotta be honest – I've never had easier negotiations in my career. Right after beating Briggs, Ibragimov told me that he wanted to face a world champion in his next fight, in the end we contacted members of Ruslan Chagaev's team and agreed on everything", said the president of Seminole Warriors Boxing promotion company Leon Margules during the first pre-fight press-conference, "Both Sultan and Ruslan are true fighters. They are not interested in easy fights and title defenses against mandatory challengers. They want to unify belts and once again return prestige to the heavyweight division. I'm confident that the winner of this fight will eventually become the undisputed heavyweight champion". [2] [3] It was going to be the first heavyweight unification fight since 1999 and the third boxing event considered major for Moscow since WBC world heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev defended his title against Okello Peter and heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin faced fringe contender Larry Donald. [4] [5]
On 31 July 2007, it was officially announced that the unification showdown was cancelled due to Chagaev suffering from an aggravation of gastric problems. It was later reported that Chagaev had been diagnosed with hepatitis B. [6] Instead, former undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield agreed to step in as a last-minute replacement. [7] In the build up, Ibragimov praised Holyfield for his legendary career: "I remember watching his legendary heavyweight fights of the 90s when I was young. Some of them were unforgettable, like those against Riddick Bowe. Of course [back then] I couldn't imagine that I would fight Holyfield one day." He also added: "In the training camp, we put a lot of emphasis on defense. Holyfield is a dirty fighter who uses his head and elbows a lot." [8] [9] [10] For the fight, Holyfield weighed in at 211.5 pounds, his lightest since 1996.
The fight began tentatively, with Ibragimov mostly staying at range and avoiding exchanges, keeping Holyfield at bay with fast combinations. By the third round, Ibragimov began to take control of the fight. Ibragimov visibly hurt Holyfield with body punches in the third. In the fifth round, Ibragimov's in-ring dominance became more visible after again hurting Holyfield with combinations to the head and body, and by the seventh the fight took on a one-sided manner as Holyfield appeared to be unable to keep up with his younger opponent. Holyfield had some success in the eighth, hurting Ibragimov with a counter body shot and a straight right hand. Ibragimov hurt Holyfield again with a flurry of shots in the tenth but didn't go for the finish. The championship rounds saw Holyfield unsuccessfully going for the knockout, as Ibragimov was able to effectively neutralize Holyfield's offense and hurt Holyfield with precise body shots. Ultimately, the fight went full twelve rounds, with Ibragimov being declared the winner by unanimous decision, successfully defending his WBO world heavyweight title. The judges scored the bout 117–111 (twice) and 118–110. [11] [12] [13]
Ibragimov would agree to face IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko in the first heavyweight unification bout since 1999, losing his title in a unanimous decision before retiring. Holyfield would spend more than a year out of ring before facing WBA champion Nikolai Valuev where he would be on the end of a controversial majority decision ending his hopes of beating George Foreman's record as the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2018) |
Confirmed bouts: [14]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 New Zealand | Maori TV [15] |
John Ruiz is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2010, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2001 and 2005. Ruiz is of Puerto Rican descent, and is the first Latino boxer to win a world heavyweight title.
Evander Holyfield is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and was the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in the "three belt era", a feat later surpassed by Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk, who became two-weight undisputed champions in the four-belt era. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Holyfield is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF titles from 1990 to 1992, the WBA and IBF titles again from 1993 to 1994, the WBA title a third time from 1996 to 1999; the IBF title a third time from 1997 to 1999 and the WBA title for a fourth time from 2000 to 2001.
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Sultan-Ahmed Magomedsalihovich Ibragimov is a Russian former professional boxer. He competed from 2002 to 2008, and held the WBO world heavyweight title from 2007 to 2008. He was ranked by The Ring as the world's sixth best active heavyweight at the conclusion of 2007 and 2008. As an amateur he won silver medals at the 2000 Olympics and 2000 European Championships, and bronze at the 2001 World Championships, all in the heavyweight division.
Timur Ibragimov is an Uzbekistani former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2012. As an amateur boxer, he competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
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Nikolai Valuev vs. Evander Holyfield was a professional boxing match contested on December 20, 2008 for the WBA heavyweight championship.
Wladimir Klitschko vs. Sultan Ibragimov, billed as "The Unification", was a professional boxing match contested on 23 February 2008 for the IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight championship.
Wladimir Klitschko vs. Ruslan Chagaev, billed as "Knockout Auf Schalke", was a professional boxing match contested on 20 June 2009 for the IBF, WBO, IBO, and vacant The Ring heavyweight championship.
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Shannon Briggs vs. Sultan Ibragimov was a professional boxing match contested on 2 June 2007, for the WBO Heavyweight championship.
