Heavyweight force Arslanbek Makhmudov battered late replacement Miljan Rovcanin, twice knocking his opponent through the ropes.
The Russian puncher was returning from a first loss suffered against Agit Kabayel in December. A broken hand kept him out for six months, which Makhmudov attributes to the defeat.
“It’s simple to understand. I started well in the first round but broke my hand in the second round with a two-place fracture,” Makhmudov told World Boxing News in an exclusive interview after the Kabayel defeat. “I didn’t realize in the fight that it happened, but I felt something like it became frozen. And I didn’t realize that my hand didn’t work with the fracture.
“As everybody knows, my style is not game playing or to win by a point. My style is a puncher, power, and anyone who I go into the ring with expects power. Even my opponent [Kabayel] felt my power in the first round. After I broke my hand, he understood I no longer had my power. When he understood that, he started to attack me. There is nothing I can do because when your hand doesn’t work, you cannot do anything.”
The ‘Day of Reckoning’ reverse kept Makhmudov hungry to return to winning ways. Against Rovcanin, he wasted no time getting down to business.
Rovcanin was planted through the ring within two minutes of the contest and almost landed on the announce table. The commentary team had to step back as it looked like the Serbian would go right through to the floor. Somehow, he recovered, but Makhmudov was far from done.
Arslanbek Makhmudov is now fully recovered from a broken hand suffered against Agit Kabayel, his only defeat.
Fully fit, this is what “The Lion” is capable of in the heavyweight division. 💣💣
🎥ESPN / @eottm_boxing pic.twitter.com/C9RFkiBtBf
— World Boxing News (@WorldBoxingNews) May 29, 2024
In the second, he again caught Rovcanin flush and fell through the ring to the bottom rope as the referee counted him out.
Makhmudov improves to 19-1 with an eighteenth stoppage and would have been an interested spectator a week earlier as old foe Kabayael stopped Frank Sanchez.
A rematch with the German will be on top of Makhmudov’s agenda, with WBN planning another interview with the 34-year-old to discuss the matter this week.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
