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Sultan Ibragimov Striking Fear in His Peers?
By Scoop Malinowski
The IBF recently ordered a Sultan Ibragimov-Samuel Peter elimination fight for the IBF mandatory ranking position to face champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Samuel Peter - or his promoter Dino Duva, for some reason, did not accept the fight from what a victory would have obtained a guaranteed much-sought after world title rematch with Klitschko.
Clearly, Samuel Peter, as good as he is, knows what many boxing insiders already know - and that is that Sultan Ibragimov is an extremely dangerous heavyweight contender. Let me repeat, that Sultan Ibragimov is a very, very formidable and threatening heavyweight fighter. And very much considered the superior heavyweight than his cousin Timur, who personally told me he KOed Shannon Briggs in sparring recently (see News Archive interview with Timur Ibragimov).
Though not a very tall or physically imposing gladiator, the the six-foot, one-inch 30-year-old former Olympic silver medalist (he lost to Cuban legend Felix Savon in Sydney) possesses more important qualities than just vertical stature. Ibragimov is very powerful, very fast-handed, very confident and a very aggressive, smart fighter.
There are insider stories about his fury and prowess - such as knocking out two name heavyweight sparring partners on his final day of sparring before the Lance Whitaker fight last December.
And there are insider tales of his extroardinary and ferocious psychological mindset. "At the press conference before the Whitaker fight, Shannon Briggs showed up to the press conference and started to heckle Sam Peter (who was on the card)," said his promoter Leon Margules. And Sultan tried to jump over the table and start with Briggs at the press conference. His manager had to hold him back. (Why?) He likes to fight. He thought it was disrespectful what Shannon was doing. He wanted to go after Shannon. And Shannon was just trying to start something with Peter. Taking away from our show in December."
So, as we know now Samuel Peter did not want to fight Ibragimov, and his reasoning does not appear consistently representative of a man purporting to be the future heavyweight champion of the world. In fact, the word now is Peter is close to a deal to meet Monte Barrett in a meaningless August 10-rounder. Now wouldn't Ibragimov have to be an extremely devastating force for Team Peter to back out from an IBF Elimination bout with Ibragimov?
You better believe he is. Last week we learned that the IBF ordered a purse bid on June 3rd for the next available IBF contender to face Sultan Ibragimov in an official elimination bout. Former WBA champ John Ruiz was ordered by the IBF to face Ibragimov. But guess what? Ruiz does not want to fight Ibragimov either!
Instead, Ruiz, was suddenly and conveniently after all these months named WBA number one contender to Nikolai Valuev. Coincidence? Or a business decision by a power that be to protect Ruiz from an Ibragimov showdown on American soil? Do you really think Ruiz has a good chance to win a decision from Valuev in a rematch in Germany?
Sultan Ibragimov may be an unknown heavyweight commodity right now. But if the IBF can find a heavyweight contender brave enough to step up and challenge the devastating Russian for the IBF mandatory ranking, you can be sure that label is going to need some revision.
Sultan Ibragimov may very well be the second best heavyweight boxer in the world today. And with his crushingly powerful and lightning fast straight left hand, he might even be the only man who has what it takes to defeat the number one man Wladimir Klitschko.
Contact Scoop: Mrbiofile@aol.com
By Scoop Malinowski
The IBF recently ordered a Sultan Ibragimov-Samuel Peter elimination fight for the IBF mandatory ranking position to face champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Samuel Peter - or his promoter Dino Duva, for some reason, did not accept the fight from what a victory would have obtained a guaranteed much-sought after world title rematch with Klitschko.
Clearly, Samuel Peter, as good as he is, knows what many boxing insiders already know - and that is that Sultan Ibragimov is an extremely dangerous heavyweight contender. Let me repeat, that Sultan Ibragimov is a very, very formidable and threatening heavyweight fighter. And very much considered the superior heavyweight than his cousin Timur, who personally told me he KOed Shannon Briggs in sparring recently (see News Archive interview with Timur Ibragimov).
Though not a very tall or physically imposing gladiator, the the six-foot, one-inch 30-year-old former Olympic silver medalist (he lost to Cuban legend Felix Savon in Sydney) possesses more important qualities than just vertical stature. Ibragimov is very powerful, very fast-handed, very confident and a very aggressive, smart fighter.
There are insider stories about his fury and prowess - such as knocking out two name heavyweight sparring partners on his final day of sparring before the Lance Whitaker fight last December.
And there are insider tales of his extroardinary and ferocious psychological mindset. "At the press conference before the Whitaker fight, Shannon Briggs showed up to the press conference and started to heckle Sam Peter (who was on the card)," said his promoter Leon Margules. And Sultan tried to jump over the table and start with Briggs at the press conference. His manager had to hold him back. (Why?) He likes to fight. He thought it was disrespectful what Shannon was doing. He wanted to go after Shannon. And Shannon was just trying to start something with Peter. Taking away from our show in December."
So, as we know now Samuel Peter did not want to fight Ibragimov, and his reasoning does not appear consistently representative of a man purporting to be the future heavyweight champion of the world. In fact, the word now is Peter is close to a deal to meet Monte Barrett in a meaningless August 10-rounder. Now wouldn't Ibragimov have to be an extremely devastating force for Team Peter to back out from an IBF Elimination bout with Ibragimov?
You better believe he is. Last week we learned that the IBF ordered a purse bid on June 3rd for the next available IBF contender to face Sultan Ibragimov in an official elimination bout. Former WBA champ John Ruiz was ordered by the IBF to face Ibragimov. But guess what? Ruiz does not want to fight Ibragimov either!
Instead, Ruiz, was suddenly and conveniently after all these months named WBA number one contender to Nikolai Valuev. Coincidence? Or a business decision by a power that be to protect Ruiz from an Ibragimov showdown on American soil? Do you really think Ruiz has a good chance to win a decision from Valuev in a rematch in Germany?
Sultan Ibragimov may be an unknown heavyweight commodity right now. But if the IBF can find a heavyweight contender brave enough to step up and challenge the devastating Russian for the IBF mandatory ranking, you can be sure that label is going to need some revision.
Sultan Ibragimov may very well be the second best heavyweight boxer in the world today. And with his crushingly powerful and lightning fast straight left hand, he might even be the only man who has what it takes to defeat the number one man Wladimir Klitschko.
Contact Scoop: Mrbiofile@aol.com
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