There is no hiding from the fact that boxing, at times, is a sport filled with or even funded by crime, prompting numerous instances of reportedly rigged fights on both the big stage and on the small hall circuits. However, a scrap in Russia has been accused as the ‘dive’ to beat them all, with suspicions of foul play rife on social media.
RCC Boxing Promotions have built a solid Friday night undercard featuring a trio of IBF inter-continental title contests and an intriguing clash between 2023 IBA world champion Sharabutdin Ataev (6-0) and Braian Nahuel Suarez (19-2), a former opponent of Lyndon Arthur’s.
Meanwhile, in the main attraction, WBA #10 Elnur Samedov (18-1) was tasked with Zhora Hamazaryan (14-3-2), who defeated Jorge Linares back in 2022, in a super-featherweight world title eliminator. However, despite a number of intriguing fights on offer, it is the showdown between Mark Urvanov (23-3-2) and Azerbaijani Seymur Isayev (12-0) which is capturing attention.
The experienced Urvanov strolled to the centre of the ring upon hearing the opening bell and postured with the visiting southpaw before scoring with a soft jab to the body – with what turned out to be the only landed punch of the ‘fight’. As we have seen with many more vicious body shots in the past, there was a delayed reaction from Isayev who dropped to his knees and glared into the canvas – possibly out of embarrassment rather than unbearable pain.
🇷🇺Bizarre scenes in Chelyabinsk as Mark Urvanov stops Seymur Isayev inside 10 seconds with a jab to the body. The only punch that landed in the entire fight pic.twitter.com/TSlPC8iFL0
— Tokkerū (@ATokkers5) September 6, 2024
Until the bout, Isayev was undefeated in his 12 professional bouts, all but one of which had taken place in his home country and was on an eight-fight knockout streak – albeit against opponents with a combined record of 14-18-1, so any apparent weakness to the body of the ‘Grey Wolf’ had clearly not been discovered.
Yet, social media offered a more pessimistic but plausible point of view, with one user claiming that the ‘knockout’ was ‘the most obvious dive there has been’.
Urvanov-Isayev is unlikely to draw the outrage caused by rumours of a better executed performance from Sonny Liston back in 1965, although it is amazing that such moments continue to occur in a sport that is televised globally with slow-motion replays.
Optimistically, it is only fair to await a response from Isayev – who may well have acted in protest or entered the ring carrying an injury only to realise that he was not fit to fight, but it goes without saying that this fight will go down as one of the darker moments in what has otherwise been a tremendous year for boxing, if justification for Isayev’s withdrawal is not provided.
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