Russian heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov (19-2, 18 KOs) hopes of competing with the elite of his division was thrown into further doubt following an eighth-round stoppage defeat against Guido Vianello six weeks ago in his adopted Quebec.
His promoter, Camille Estephan, has told FightsATW that his future with the Montreal-based Eye of the Tiger Management is yet to be decided, with the 35-year-old suffering two knockout losses in his last three fights. Makhmudov would first taste defeat at the hand of Agit Kabayel inside four rounds on the Anthony Joshua-Otto Wallin/Deontay Wilder-Joseph Parker undercard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“It was a really good fight, and I thought whoever was going to land the first significant blow was going to win that one,” Estephan said in an exclusive interview. “Guido fought very well. He had a good game plan. What can I say? It’s the heavyweight division. He showed a lot of heart. I’ve never seen someone’s face as swollen as that; his left eye was completely shut. But he stayed in there and wanted to continue fighting. I was thinking that I wanted the fight to be over, and I wanted to stop it, but I’m not in a position to do so. The coaches gave him a chance; they gave him one more round. If the doctor hadn’t stopped the fight, the corner would have pulled him out either way.
“It’s tough luck. He broke his hand against Kabayel, and this is now a big loss for his career. With two losses in as many fights like that on the big stage, we are now going to have to sit down with him, see where his motivation levels are, and figure out what we do. I think he got a bit too comfortable with his right hand. A lot of these big, powerful guys fall in love with their power. It’s a trap they fall into. Marc Ramsay (trainer) has been warning me about this for a couple of years now. Maybe it is a wake-up call for him to say, right, I really need to work on other things. I don’t know honestly. We really need a time out and recovery, and then we will sit down and decide.”
All is not lost at a time when the heavyweight division has seen an influx of dates and investment largely from Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh. Daniel Dubois’ recent turnaround from being stopped by Oleksandr Usyk last August was followed by victories over Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic, leading to a fifth-round knockout over Anthony Joshua as the IBF heavyweight world champion.
“There are so many guys that have a couple of losses and have come back,” Estephan explained. “Even in our camp, we had David Lemieux, who had two losses in a row (against Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine in 2011) but came back and was a world champion. It’s not the be-all-and-end-all, but it is a very tough position to be in. So many things have to be aligned perfectly for him to come back.”
Makhmudov appears to be making the best of his recovery, posting a video of himself wrestling a bear in a Russian forest with the caption: “We are walking in the woods with friends, and there is a bear to meet us in general, we decided to find out which of us fights better.”
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