Russian Boxer Fighting in Title Bout
Russian boxer, Sultan Ibragimov, will be challenging the World Boxing Organization (WBO) heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs. Ibragimov will box the American Briggs March 10th at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Briggs, who is 35, was awarded the WBO title after defeating Belarus’ Sergey Lyakhovich in a 12th round knockout. on November 4th. Following that match, the WBO ruled that Ibragimov would be the next challenger.
Ibragimov had also been slated to possibly challenge for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title as well, but his match against Ray Austin ended up in a tie after a tough 12 round fight. Rather than repeat the match and put off deciding the challenger, the IBF decided to go with Austin, so Ibragimov gets the WBO nod instead. The fight will be shown on HBO as a double header along with a match featuring the IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine.
Sultan also has a cousin who boxes, Timur Ibragimov who boxes for Uzbekistan and lives in Florida. The two cousins along with Ruslan Chagaev, Alexander Povetkin and Denis Boytsov are the new wave of boxers from the former Soviet Union who are making a big impact on the sport.
