Friday 16th September 2005, Gwinnett, Georgia 

Guilty Boxing

Sultan Ibragimov vs Friday Ahunanya          

 

In a twelve round co-main event at the Gwinnett Arena in Georgia, unbeaten Russian Sultan Ibragimov put his WBO Asia Pacific Heavyweight title on the line against seasoned Nigerian Friday 'The 13th' Ahunanya. The usually aggressive Ibragimov entered the early rounds respectfully cautious, as Ahunanya took the fight to the Russian who found his range with a fast, southpaw jab making it a technical affair with the slippery title holder gaining an early lead edging the punch rate marginally.

Ahunanya soon found his mark by cutting the ring off and cleverly countering Ibragimov's untidier work. Friday put himself back in the fight in rounds four and five opening a nasty gash on the inside of Ibragimov's left eye, on the bridge of the nose, that rang alarm bells in the Ibragimov corner , causing Sultan to put together some of his most desperate work that left him breathing hard after six. Ahunanya began to mount some well thought out attacks that seemed to be making the fight more physical, with Ibragimov looking for new ideas when Ahunanya was still relatively fresh.

Midway through a very entertaining round, Ibragimov missed a short hook and stumbled forward clashing heads with Ahunanya, opening a nasty deep gash that ran parallel to the Nigerian's left eyebrow, running freely down the side of the Las Vegas heavyweight's face. The cut was cosmetically horrific at a glance, and the ringside doctor deemed it bad enough to halt the fight without the round being completed. Referee Jim Korb called for the bout to be determined by the scorecards with the ensuing round still being scored, although incomplete. 

The three judges at ringside scored it  84-88,  83-88 and  83-/87, all for the Russian born titleholder Sultan Ibragimov who moves to 18-0 (15 KOs).

 The fight seemed a lot closer than the scores really suggested, even if the titleholder did put together busier work throughout to take the points verdict. 

Ahunanya moves to 20-4-2 (26 KOs). 

Weights:   Ibragimov-  221 lbs,  Ahunanya-   233 lbs