Sultan Ibragimov vs. Evander Holyfield

Challenger rankings

Org.	Pos.	As of	Published
1+ Mth. Old
WBA	13	13.06.2007	13.06.2007
WBC	9	31.05.2007	by 10.06.2007
IBF	10	21.06.2007	by 01.07.2007
WBO	13	01.06.2007	16-26.06.2007
Ring	NR	02.07.2007	by 04.07.2007
2+ Mth. Old
WBA	N/A	N/A	N/A
WBC	N/A	N/A	N/A
IBF	N/A	N/A	N/A
WBO	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ring	N/A	N/A	N/A
3+ Mth. Old
WBA	N/A	N/A	N/A
WBC	N/A	N/A	N/A
IBF	N/A	N/A	N/A
WBO	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ring	N/A	N/A	N/A

Sultan Ibragimov 219 lbs beat Evander Holyfield 211 lbs by UD in round 12 of 12

• Date: 2007-10-13
• Location: Khodynka Ice Palace, Moscow, Russia
• Referee: Raul Caiz Sr
• Judge: Chuck Giampa 117-111
• Judge: Ruben M Garcia 118-110
• Judge: Tom Miller 117-111

• World Boxing Organization Heavyweight Title (1st defense by Ibragimov)
• Fight Poster

Notes

• Ibragimov was previously scheduled to fight WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev in a title unification bout, but Chagaev withdrew after contracting hepatitis.
• Contracts signed by August 9.[1]
• Holyfield ranked top 15 by all major sanctioning bodies, even though Fres Oquendo (No.13 by the WBO) was the only ranked opponent he faced since his comeback.
• An offer of $6.5 million won the purse bid for the fight.
• Televised in 150 countries.[2]
• Ibragimov landed 139 of 348 punches (40%) and Holyfield landed 58 of 302 (20%).
• Ibragimov outstruck Holyfield in each round and landed more power shots in every round except 11th (even). Holyfield was unable to connect on more than 6 punches per round.
• An estimated 50 million viewers watched the fight, including 7.5 million in Russia.
• The fight reportedly drew 75,000 PPV buys in the United States. At a price of $34.95[3], pay-per-view revenue was approximately $2.6 million.

Quotes

• "At one point we thought we would get Evander out of there. Once Sultan was trying to knock him out and he put himself in harm's way. He was trying to get the knockout for the people of Russia. Instead of trying to knock him out we wanted to get in and get out, and win one round at a time. In my mind he won 11 out of 12 rounds and never gave Evander any chances." - Jeff Mayweather, after the fight
• "I feel very good about this outcome. Sultan came to this fight in very good shape which took an amazing amount of hard work and training. Holyfield still has good power, and we were not about to deviate from the game plan just to try for a KO. If it happened as we followed the plan, good. If not, who cares?...we came to win" - Jeff Mayweather, during post-fight press conference
• "The guy wasn't standing there when he hit me. When I hit him with a nice shot, he was able to move or be able to make adjustments, which has something to do with being a smart fighter. When I did hit him with a right hand, I was off balance because of how he positioned himself. He was just able to move and get away from the combinations, so it was hard for me to dictate." - Evander Holyfield, after the fight

Ibragimov defended himself

By Obshchaya Gazeta, October 15, 2007

On Saturday, Sultan Ibragimov defeated the legendary American boxer Evander Holyfield by unanimous decision. The Russian was pragmatic, fighting defensively and attacking accurately, but not too frequently. Next for Sultan are "internecine" battles with representativaes of the the post-Soviet space.

A boxing event was held at the Ice Palace on Khodynskoye Pole, which included two title fights with the participation of Russian boxers. In the first fight, Dmitry Kirillov defeated American Jose Navarro on points, winning the IBF flyweight title. In the second, Russian Sultan Ibragimov defended his WBO title in a fight against American professional boxing legend Evander Holyfield. This is Ibragimov's first title defense since he won the championship belt against Shannon Briggs in June. Observers' predictions before the fight were not unanimous, but the majority was in favor of Ibragimov. Holyfield has a vast experience of fighting, including with the stars of professional boxing. Ibragimov's advantage is his youth - Sultan is 32 years old, he is 12 years younger than his opponent.

Ibragimov has solid amateur boxing background behind him, he is a silver medalist of the Sydney Olympics. After moving to professional boxing, Ibragimov gained experience in the United States and adjusted his fighting style. He can no longer be called a typical representative of the Soviet school of boxing; sweeping overhands, typical for American boxing school, appeared in his asset. In America, Ibragimov met Mike Tyson, and the boxers became friends. Ibragimov does not deny that Mike often shared advice with him. Boxers are similar to each other, both are short for heavyweights.

During pre-fight training, Holyfield looked fresh. The appearance of the boxer was magnificent, not an ounce of extra weight. However, Holyfield's speed and reaction are no longer what they were in his younger years. And observers' predictions were proven right: during exchanges, the American could not keep up with Ibragimov.

In the first half of the fight, the opponents were rather studying each other, waging a positional fight. The shots were not thrown often, but Sultan Ibragimov was more precise. The Russian has changed a lot since he entered his first championship fight. He has become more pragmatic: with both Shannon Briggs and Evander Holyfield, the Russian boxer was not rushing anything, paying increased attention to defense. Such fights do not look as spectacular as Ibragimov's early fights. For example, the fight with Lance Whitaker, where the Russian started the fight aggressively, flooding the opponent with a hail of blows. But this approach minimizes the risk. In championship fights, this allows you to stay ahead for as long as possible. In the second half of the fight, Ibragimov became more active, began to work intensively on the body, knocking the enemy's breath. And Holyfield began to get tired, his age made itself felt. The judges were unanimous in their decision: one judge rated Ibragimov's dominance at 118-110, the other two at 117-111.

Having defended the title, Ibragimov is ready to compete in a unification fight against the champion of one of the other organizations. However, in the next fight he will have to defend the title against the mandatory challenger. Who it will be has not yet been determined. It is not yet known what the future of Holyfield in professional boxing is. After the fight, the American said that he would like to meet Ibragimov in a rematch. However, this is unlikely - Ibragimov will look for next opponents among the champions.

Preceded by: Briggs vs. Ibragimov

WBO Heavyweight Title Fight # 36

Succeeded by: W. Klitschko vs. Ibragimov