In the main fight of the show, the 2020 Olympic champion, WBA interim champion Albert Batyrgaziev will defend the IBA title in the weight category up to 60 kg, which he won in December 2023, defeating his multiple Games medalist, the Cuban Lázaro Álvarez , by unanimous decision.
As for the opponent for the next fight, there were some changes. Batyrgaziev’s opponent was supposed to be 38-year-old former WBA super champion Nicholas Walters of Jamaica. But Walters’ team did something ugly. A few days before the fight, he withdrew citing injury. Only he has another fight scheduled for early November. But, as Batyrgaziev’s manager and trainer Eduard Kravtsov told the press service of the Russian Boxing Federation, Albert was upset by this act, but it did not take him by surprise. To be sure, a contract was signed with the holder of the IBF Asia belt, former WBO Intercontinental and IBF Intercontinental champion Albert Pagara of the Philippines. And he didn’t just sit on the bench. He was undergoing a full training camp to step into the ring on November 3 at another IBA Night of Champions event.
The co-main event of the boxing evening will feature another great fight. Two-time world champion, 2020 Olympic finalist and 2024 European champion, Russian Muslim Gadzhimagomedov, will make his first defense of the WBA belt at bridgeweight (up to 101.6 kg) in a 12-round fight with German Leon Hart.
Two WBA Asian belts will also be played in Ufa. IBA European champion, Ufa native Artur Subkhankulov, will challenge for the title at the second featherweight with China’s Liu Wensong. 2015 World Championship finalist, two-time European champion Vasily Egorov, will attempt to win the flyweight belt in a fight against WBO African champion Joseph Immanuel of Namibia.
Where will we see?
Thursday, October 17, “Match TV”
16.30. “IBA Night of Champions”. Live broadcast from Ufa.
Exclusive
Timur Musaev, famous Russian wrestler, including bare knuckle fighters:
– Batyrgaziev’s acceleration in the pros is impressive. This is already his twelfth fight. It seems to me that Albert’s main tests are still ahead and I think the next fight is one of them. Batyrgaziev is probably waiting for the most experienced opponent of his career. He has been performing for more than 10 years, lost only once, 35 wins… Maybe he is a little behind in terms of level and earned his record with more or less acceptable opponents, but Pagara is still a very experienced boxer. A boxer who understands the situation well in the professionals. This will be a good test before facing WBA champion Lamont Roach. I predict that on the 17th, although not without problems, Batyrgaziev will take the matter to victory by knockout. And in the distant future, in my opinion, Albert will become one of the main stars of Russian boxing.
Murad Khalidov, heavyweight champion of the “Our Business” league:
– I think Hart is already at the end of his career. Muslim is younger, you can say that he is at the beginning of his career in the professional ring. Although his achievements in Olympic boxing say it all. He is a two-time amateur world champion, a finalist at the Tokyo Olympics and a European champion. Gadzhimagomedov is superior to Hart in all aspects and will be able to end the fight early. There is little intrigue for me in this confrontation. The Muslim is the clear favorite.
