By Bill Calogero

Sultan Ibragimov retained his WBO Heavyweight Title with a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield from Moscow, Russia broadcast live on PPV.

Hopefully, in addition to his first successful title defense, Sultan Ibragimov has put an end to a sure first ballot Hall Of Famer, Evander Holyfield’s active boxing career. Ibragimov was able to expose Evander’s lack of reflexes and demonstrated superior hand and foot speed to win a less than action-packed fight.

In the first round, Holyfield came out attempting to be the aggressor. He was certainly letting his hands go but Ibragimov was able to utilize his foot speed to move out of the way of Holyfield’s punches and his hand speed to out counter-punch one of the sports previously regarded great counter-punchers to take this round on my scorecard.

The second round was close. Holyfield landed the harder punches to, in my opinion, squeak out the round. A small cut had been opened up on Ibragimov’s nose at the close of the first round and by the time the second round ended it was not a factor.

As the third round began, Ibragimov came out as the aggressor, landing punches and looking very much like the younger fighter he is, thus making Evander looking just like a boxer who will turn 45 this upcoming week. Sultan also began using a body attack to his advantage, landing several hard hooks to Evander’s mid-section during the course of the round to earn a 10-9 score on my card.

The fourth and fifth rounds were very close. Evander was trying to press the action, but was not able to muster much of anything in terms of a worthwhile attack. Ibragimov was able to counter punch most of Holyfield’s advances, but was not pressing the action either. Both of these rounds could have gone either way. On my scorecard, I gave the 5th to Ibragimov and I scored the 4th as an even round.

Sultan Ibragimov came out and was noticeably aggressive during the sixth round. Holyfield was doing his absolute best to counter-punch the Champion, but his forty-five year old body, which was in great looking shape as usual, did not respond as quickly as he wanted. Although he had the “will” to win, the “will” was not helping his reflexes much as he seemed a little late and a little short during the round. Ibragimov wins this round on my scorecard.

The seventh round picked up where the sixth left off. Ibragimov landed the harder punches and was pressing the fight. Sultan was forcing Evander to come to him, which was definitely in Ibragimov’s favor.

The eighth round saw hope for Evander Holyfield. He came out pressing the action and for the most part, controlled the round. Sultan came on strong at the end of the round and Evander appeared to tire, but on my scorecard, Holyfield won the round.

When the ninth round began, it seemed like Ibragimov wanted to end the fight. He came out fast, throwing punches and clearly showed everyone watching that he still had plenty left in his tank, while his opponent appeared to be running low. Sultan ended the round with several hard hooks to the body followed by a flurry of punches landing to the head and then again to the body of Evander Holyfield.

The tenth round began as if it were part of the ninth. Ibragimov came out throwing punches and with about forty seconds gone by, Sultan landed a short sharp powerful body shot that clearly stunned the former four-time World Champion. Evander almost seemed paralyzed. He was not able to move too much, but as we have become accustomed to throughout his long career, Evander Holyfield not only survived the round, he landed several hard shots until the bell sounded. On my scorecard, the edge went to Ibragimov for this round.

The last two rounds were nothing like each other. The eleventh found both fighters not doing much. It resembled a “feel out” round with the edge going to Ibragimov. The twelfth and final round went to Evander Holyfield on my card. He landed several hard shots and closed the show, and I personally hope, his career.

One judge scored the fight 118-110, while the other two saw it as 117-111 all in favor of Sultan Ibragimov. BoxingScene.com scored the fight 117-112, also in favor of Ibragimov.

Sultan Ibragimov improves to 22-0-1 (17 KOs), while Evander Holyfield drops to 42-9-3 (27 KOs).

In my opinion, it is clear that Evander Holyfield should not be allowed to fight again, period. He has had a GREAT career and will certainly become a Boxing Hall Of Fame member as soon as he is eligible, but his days as a professional fighter are over. It was obvious watching him in the pre-fight news conference. It was obvious in the pre and post fight interviews and it was clearly obvious inside of the ring. Once and for all, it’s time for Evander Holyfield to hang up his gloves and move on with his life.

In the most exciting fight of the evening, Dimitri Kirilov won a unanimous 12-round decision over Jose Navarro for the vacant IBF Super Featherweight Championship.

Both fighters came to fight. Both fighters had something to prove. Both fighters had title shots in the past and came out on the losing in. What happened in the ring is what should happen in championship fights. Both fighters fought their hearts out and came with their A-Games.

There was non-stop action throughout this fight. Both fighters demonstrated speed, agility, heart and determination. During the third round, Dimitri landed a sharp right that sent Navarro to the canvas. He was not hurt, but it was clearly a knockdown.

Navarro came back and landed several hard shots of his own during the fight. His jab was setting up his power shots in textbook style. In the tenth round, Kirilov had Navarro in serious trouble, but the warrior in Jose came out and he somehow survived the round without going down.

In the eleventh round, a series of body shots again put Navarro in trouble, but again he refused to go down. Dimitri’s relentless attack wore down Jose and by the final bell, he squeaked out the victory and the title.

Two of the three judges scored the fight 114-113, while the third had it 116-112 all in favor of Dimitri Kirilov. BoxingScene.com scored the fight 115-112 also in favor of Kirilov.

Dimitri Kirilov improves to 29-3 (10 KOs) and is now the IBF Super Featherweight Champion, while Jose Navarro losing for only the third time in his career, drops to 26-3 (12 KOs) and will surely be back in the mix very soon.

Also on the under card in the Cruiserweight Division, WBA #8 ranked Contender Mohamed Azzaoui stopped Henry Saenz with an 8th round KO when Saenz’s corner advised the referee to stop the fight.

Azzaoui clearly had the fight in control from the beginning to the end. He stunned Saenz in the 5th and had him bleeding badly from the bridge of his nose and over his right eye at the time of the stoppage.

Mohamed Azzaoui keeps his undefeated record in tact, improving to 23-0-1 (8 KOs), while Henry Saenz drops to 9-5-1 (8 KOs).

Azzaoui hopes to step up his level of competition for his next fight and then expects to be in the discussion for a title shot. In my opinion, he should consider fighting Kenny Craven for his next bout. Craven will come at him and press the fight. Azzaoui has yet to fight a fighter like that and if he has any hopes of a title shot, I would think he would have to be able to beat a tough fighter like Craven. His number eight ranking, based on his level of opposition, is questionable to say the least.