Heavyweight Beast Magomed Abdusalamov to Appear on Friday Night Fights Next Week!
“My fighter will beat everybody in the heavyweight division; it’s only a matter of time,” says Boris Grinberg of AB Boxing, manager and father figure of undefeated Russian heavyweight Magomed “Mago” Abdusalamov (12-0, 12 KOs).
To say Team Abdusalamov is confident their fighter is the next big thing in the heavyweight division is an understatement. They are certain of it. “This guy beats everybody, including the Klitschkos. He’s too big and strong. Nobody can even go more than a few rounds with him in sparring.”
Abdusalamov will face Cuba’s Pedro Rodriguez (8-0, 6 KOs) in one of the televised bouts of the Friday, February 3, ESPN Friday Night Fights broadcast presented by Warriors Boxing and Sampson Boxing at the Texas Station Gambling Hall & Hotel in Las Vegas.
The event, entitled “Superbrawls”, will be topped by a 10-round light heavyweight main event between Colombian powerhouse Edison “Pantera” Miranda and South Africa’s WBC #6, WBA #13, and WBO #14-rated Isaac “Golden Boy” Chilemba, and also feature Hylon Williams Jr. (15-0, 3 KOs) of Las Vegas and Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (14-0, 11 KOs) in the eight-round lightweight co-main event
30-year-old “Mago” Abdusalamov is a crunching southpaw powerhouse who moves forward constantly and imposes his brute strength on his unfortunate foes.
Blessed with amazing patience for such a heavy-handed boxer, when faced with a challenging style, the big Russian also has the ability to study his opponent before pulverizing them, probably due to his extensive amateur career where he was the 2005 and 2006 Russian amateur champion at super heavyweight.
“They’re calling him the Russian Tyson and a lot of people are anxious to get a look at this guy,” said his promoter Sampson Lewkowicz of Sampson Boxing. “The opponent he’s fighting was on the Cuban national team as an amateur and is also undefeated, but our guy is unstoppable. He never stops training; he’s strong as an ox, has all kinds of international experience and he listens well and learns a lot.”
Abdusalamov currently lives in Oxnard, California, training under the watchful eye of trainer Pablo Sarmiento. Sarmiento has tremendous experience in guiding southpaw fighters to glory, as he is also the trainer of WBC emeritus middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.
“By the end of this year, he’ll start beating top contenders like Chris Arreola and guys like that,” continued Grinberg. “He wants to fight them now, but nobody wants to fight him. We tried to make this fight against Travis Walker, but he ran away. Two or three fighters refused to fight him for this event. Nobody wants to be knocked out.”
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Topping the all-action undercard will be “can’t miss” Puerto Rican super middleweight prospect Roberto Jose Acevedo (2-0, 1 KO) in a four-round showcase fight against Las Vegas resident Velvet Malone (0-3).
Other bouts scheduled include a noteworthy six-round super featherweight tussle between Igrim, Russia’s undefeated Eveny Gradovich (11-0, 6 KOs) and Las Vegas’ Robert Osiobe (11-3-4, 6 KOs); a four-round junior welterweight match-up between Vegas residents Cameron Kreal (0-0-2) and Jesus Gutierrez (1-0, 1 KO); and Puerto Rico’s Juan Carlos Velasquez (10-1, 5 KOs) in a six-round super featherweight bout against TBA.
Tickets for “Super Brawls” are priced at $25 and $50 and are available at Ticketmaster, any Texas Station rewards center or at Stationcasinos.com/concerts. A few VIP seats are available at a price of $100. Please call (954) 985-1155.
On fight night, doors open at 5:30 and the action starts at 6:00 pm.
Station Bucks may be used to purchase tickets. All ages welcome. Under 21 must be accompanied by an adult 21 or over. Show subject to change without notice. Management reserves all rights. Digital Photography and video prohibited. Tickets can be purchased at any Station Casinos Boarding Pass Rewards Center, The Fiesta’s, by logging onto stationcasinos.com/concerts or by calling 1-800-745-3000.
Texas Station Gambling Hall & Hotel is located at 2101 Texas Star Ln in North Las Vegas. Telephone: (702) 631-1000 or (800)654-8888.
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
