By Ian S Palmer
Jamal James of Minneapolis, Minnesota will be defending his “regular” WBA World Welterweight Title against unbeaten Radzhab Butaev of Russia in Las Vegas, Nevada this Saturday, October 30th. The 12-round bout can be seen live in America on Showtime while fans in Canada can catch the action on TSN 5. James beat Thomas Dulorme by unanimous decision in August of last year to win the title. Butaev’s last action came in December when he stopped Terry Chatwood in the third round.
Jamal James is a 33-year-old with a mark of 27-1 with 12 Kos. He turned pro back in 2010 and has boxed 173 rounds since. His power is mediocre with a current knockout ratio of 42.3 per cent. James is big for a welterweight as he stands 6-feet-2-inches tall with a 70-inch reach. The only blemish on his record so far is a 10-round unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Yordenis Ugas in 2016.
James enjoyed a pretty good amateur career with wins over George Rincon, Johnny Garcia and Jonathan Garcia with a loss to Jose Benavidez all in 2009. Since turning pro he beat Mohammed Kayango for the Minnesota State Welterweight title and has wins over Angel Hernandez, Wayne Martell, Juan Carlos Abreu, Javier Molina, Ionut Dan Ion, Diego Chaves and Abel Ramos. He’s never been stopped and appears to have a solid chin, but has been dropped a couple of times.
The 27-year -old Butaev fights out of Brooklyn, New York and enters the ring with a perfect record of 13-0 with 10 Kos. However, he was beaten by Alexander Besputin by 12-round unanimous decision in November, 2019 in a fight for the vacant WBA Welterweight Title. That bout was eventually ruled a no-contest though when Besputin failed his drug tests.
Butaev reportedly went 392-8 as an amateur after taking up boxing as a nine year old. He also went 9-1 in the World Series of boxing. Since turning pro he’s fought 57 round and captured the vacant NABF Super Welterweight Title in 2016 with an eight-round unanimous decision over Gabor Gorbics. He stands just over 5-feet-10 inches tall with a 72-inch reach so has a two-inch edge in reach on James but gives up 3.5-inches in height. He definitely has good power with a current knockout ratio of 71.4 per cent.
Prediction…
Butaev may be unbeaten during his career but he hasn’t faced any legitimate contenders really so he’s taking a step up in class. He has a good chin and arguably more power than James and is also six years younger. Butaev has plenty of amateur experience but James has faced tougher opposition as a pro. This is a tough call actually as I can see the fight going either way or ending in a draw. I’ll go with James though in a close fight due to his tougher pro experience up to now.
