By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten IBF and WBA Super Bantamweight Champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan will be defending his crowns against Ronny Rios of Compton, California this Saturday, June 25th. The 12-round bout can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Akhmadaliev, a southpaw, beat Danny Roman by split decision in January, 2020 to win the belts and defended them against Ryosuke Iwasa by fifth-round stoppage in in April, 2021 and then beat Jose Velasquez by a unanimous decision is his last outing in November. Velasquez was a late replacement Rios in that fight as he had to pull out due to Covid 19. Rios last boxed in February, 2021 when he beat Oscar Negrete by 10-round unanimous decision.
The 27-year-old southpaw Akhmadaliev is a perfect 10-0 with 7 Kos and obviously has a lot of power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 70 per cent. He made his pro debut in 2018 and has 57 rounds of experience under his belt. He enjoyed a successful amateur career as he won a bronze medal in the bantamweight division at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and a silver at the 2015 World Amateur Championships in Doha, Qatar where he was beaten in the final by Ireland’s Michael Conlan.
Akhmadaliev reportedly reportedly went 300-20 as an amateur with 80 Kos. He also won silver at the 2012 World Youth Championships and was the Uzbekistan National Champion in 2013 and 2014. He was the silver medallist at the 2015 Asian Championships and won gold at the same event two years later. He gained experience by boxing for the Uzbek Tigers in the 2016 and 2017 World Series of Boxing (WSB). Akhmadaliev stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 68-inch reach.
Since turning pro, Akhmadaliev has brought his power along for the ride. He stopped Isaac Zarate in the ninth round for the WBA Inter-Continental Super Bantamweight Title in November, 2018 in his first defence after halting Ramon Contreras in just 80 seconds three months earlier to win the vacant crown. He won his world titles in just his eighth pro bout and doesn’t have much experience in the pro ranks against the upper echelon just yet but his wins over Roman and Iwasa were impressive and he has a wealth of amateur experience to fall back on.
The 32-year-old Rios climbs through the ropes with a mark of 33-3 with 16 Kos and has boxed 217 rounds since making his pro debut in 2013. He’s been beaten by Robinson Castellanos in 2014, Rey Vargas in 2017 and Azat Hovhannisyan in 2018. He went the distance with Vargas in a shot at the WBC Super Bantamweight Title but was stopped in the fifth round by Castellanos and the sixth round by Hovhannisyan, which was for the WBC Continental Americas Super Bantamweight Belt.
As an amateur, Rios was a 2007 United States Amateur Bantamweight Champion, a 2007 National Golden Gloves Bantamweight Champion and a 2008 United States Amateur Bantamweight Champion. Since turning pro he’s captured the WBA Gold World, and NABF Super Bantamweight Titles as well as the WBC Silver Featherweight Belt and NABF Featherweight Championship.
He’s beaten some pretty good boxers along the way such as Roger Gonzalez, Rico Ramos, Andrew Cancio, Jayson Velez and Diego De La Hoya. Rios stands just over 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 67-inch reach so has a two-inch height advantage over the champion but gives up an inch in reach. He’s a solid pro with good skills and decent power but typically falls short when stepping up in class.
Prediction…
Akhmadaliev, who fights out of Indio, California is a fine boxer with good power and doesn’t really lack anything other than pro experience. Rios will give it his best shot but I’m not expecting him to beat Akhmadaliev on Saturday night.
