Murodjon Akhmadaliev stops Luis Castillo, lines up Naoya Inoue next
Murodjon Akhmadaliev cleared the final hurdle to his undisputed showdown with Naoya Inoue, stopping Luis Castillo in the eighth round at Domo Alcalde in Jalisco, Mexico.
The WBA interim 122lbs titleholder dominated the overmatched and undersized Castillo, bloodying his face and dropping him twice before the towel was thrown in at the 2:05 mark.
Akhmadaliev, 14-1 (11 KOs), of Chust, Uzbekistan stretched his winning streak to three. He has now earned a September 14 showdown with Inoue in Tokyo, Japan.
With a big fight hanging in the balance, the 30-year-old Akhmadaliev didn’t look in too terrible of a rush to get into a brawl with Castillo, 31-7 (20 KOs), as the two boxed cautiously early on.
Akhmadaliev finally began to break Castillo down in the fourth, when a left uppercut to the body from the southpaw appeared to drop Castillo, but it was ruled a slip. Looking to test how much of a slip it really was, Akhmadaliev went back to the well in the fifth, and this time Castillo was doubled over on the floor for a count. Akhmadaliev continued to press the action in the sixth, and scored another knockdown on a short, sweeping left to the chin.
The finishing barrage began with a right hook that wobbled Castillo. Akhmadaliev’s sense of urgency kicked in; he fired away with straight lefts and right hooks which rocked Castillo around the ring and reddened his face with blood. A left uppercut was the coup de grace that convinced Castillo’s corner to throw in the towel.
Akhmadaliev, who now lives and trains in Indio, California, had previously been the unified IBF/WBA champion at 122lbs before losing both belts to Marlon Tapales in 2023 in a split decision. Inoue duly took the belts off Tapales at the end of the year. Now, Akhmadaliev has the Inoue fight in his sights – on September 14, to be exact – that he let drift away two years ago.
In the night’s opening fight, former IBF junior flyweight champion Adrian Curiel scored his second straight victory, outpointing Johan Rubio by unanimous decision. Two judges scored the fight 99-91 while the third had it 98-92, all in favor of Curiel, 26-6-1 (5 KOs).
After an aggressive start for Rubio where he landed counter uppercuts on Curiel, Curiel turned up the pressure in the second round. By the third round he was in complete control, landing left hooks to the body and uppercuts between his gloves. Though Rubio hung in tough, the massive gap in experience was too much for Rubio to overcome.
Though Rubio was stopped in his previous fight, a third round loss to Ricardo Salgado last November, the 21-year-old Rubio was able to last the ten-round distance and earn a wealth of experience in the process.
Rubio, 21, drops to 8-3-2 (4 KOs).
Curiel, 26, of Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico has now won two straight – both in Mexico – after losing back-to-back fights against Sivenathi Nontshinga and Sunny Edwards in 2024.
