By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated Khabib Allakhverdiev of Russia will be battling it out with Souleymane M’baye of France in Monte Carlo, Monaco on Saturday July 13 for Allakhverdiev ‘s WBA and IBO Junior Welterweight Championship belts. This will be the first title defence for Allakhverdiev who won the championship with an eighth-round technical decision over Joan Guzman last November.
Allakhverdiev has a perfect record so far at 18-0 along with 8 Kos while the veteran M’baye is 40-4-1 with 22 Kos. Allakhverdiev looked impressive in his last outing against Guzman as he’s got plenty of boxing skills. He’s a 30-year-old southpaw who know how to move around the ring with the best of them and is also defensively gifted. He’s being trained by former world champion Kostya Tszyu of Australia/Russia and looks like a bright prospect.
The 38-year-old M’baye is a wily veteran who’s also quite skilled. The French challenger possesses good footwork, defense and hand speed. He’s always in good condition, which is important for a boxer his age and is quite durable. He’s been going strong for 15 years now and his work rate inside the ring hasn’t slowed down over that time. Two of his best performances came in victories against Andriy Kotelnik, Antonin Decarie and Collin Lynes.
If there is a problem with M’baye it’s going to be ring rust since he’s been inactive lately with just three fights on his record from 2009 to 2012. What’s even worse is that he’s fought just a total of two rounds over the last two years. He fought those when he stopped Lazlo Haaz in the second round in March. It’s going to be tough to shake the rust off against a skilful young champion like Allakhverdiev.
The Russian champion turned pro back in 2007 and also has wins over former world champion Nate Campbell as well as Kaizer Mabuza. M’baye turned pro way back in 1998. He was stopped in the 11th round by Ismael El Massoudi in 2011 and has dropped unanimous 12-round decisions to Vivian Harris in 2003, Gavin Rees in 2007 and Herman Ngoudjo in 2008. He also drew a rematch with Kotelnik in 2007.
This could be a decent fight due to their styles. However, the younger Allakhverdiev has the edge in most areas going into the fight. He’s been active and has faced pretty good opposition lately. He’s also got the better skills at this point in the boxers’ careers. He’s intelligent and likes to fight on the inside when it’s the best option and can also keep his distance when needed. All of this makes up for his relative lack of power. M’baye is at his best when he fights from the outside, but he’s got a lot of obstacles to overcome. Look for Allakhverdiev to retain his titles by decision.
