Kossobutskiy Apologizes For Low Blow Leading To Loss

The only legitimate heavyweight low blow debacle from last weekend has yielded a public apology.

Zhan Kossobutskiy of Kazahkstan (19-1, 18 KOs) openly expressed regret for his embarrassing performance in his August 26 disqualification loss to Efe Ajagba of Nigeria (18-1, 13 KOs).

The previously unbeaten heavyweight lost two points in the third round before getting sent to the showers by referee Chris Flores at 33 seconds of round four in the co-main event Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Once Ajagba applied pressure, Kossobutskiy mentally checked out. He turned their scheduled 10-round bout into a foul fest. While Kossobutskiy claimed Ajagba also engaged in dirty tactics, he took responsibility for taking it too far.

“I hereby would like to [apologize to the] WBC, the American Boxing Authorizes and whole boxing sport fans all over the world for my non-sporting behavior,” Kossobutskiy wrote. “I realize that I did not behave like a professional boxer and I took the wrong actions.

“After receiving numerous low-blow-shots by my opponent, I got out of control, lost my professionalism and tried to do vigilantism.”

Efe Ajagba (R) of Nigeria and Zhan Kossobutskiy (L) of Kazakhstan had an action fight in progress until the Kazakh decided to play dirty. Photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images

Kossobutskiy blew a golden opportunity to shine in front of an American television audience on ESPN and advance his fortunes in the heavyweight division. Even in a loss, a spirited effort would have won him a return invitation – possibly against Top Rank Boxing’s rising star Jared Anderson.

But it wasn’t the only low blow controversy of the day. It wasn’t even the first one.

Not The Only Low Blow Saturday

Oleksandr Usyk went down hard after a body shot from Daniel Dubois to the beltline – ruled low by referee Luis Pabon. Photo: TNT Sport

Earlier in the day, Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine (21-0, 14 KOs) defended three heavyweight world championship belts in a ninth-round knockout of Daniel Dubois of England (19-2, 18 KOs) in Wroclaw, Poland.

Ironically, there was also a low blow controversy. A portion of Dubois’ right glove landed under Usyk’s beltline in round five, which sent Usyk to the canvas in obvious pain.

Referee Luis Pabon of Puerto Rico ruled it a low blow. He also urged Usyk to take the full five minutes permitted to recover, despite Usyk’s insistence he was ready to continue much earlier.

Usyk went on to win all the remaining rounds, dropping Dubois twice en route to a ninth-round TKO. Dubois and promoter Frank Warren have vowed to protest the results, likely to no avail.

Usyk is either heading for another mandatory defense against Filip Hrgovic of Croatia (16-0, 13 KOs), or if Usyk’s team can hold off the IBF and resume negotiations with WBC World Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury of Great Britain (33-0-1, 24 KOs), who is currently scheduled for a money grab fight against former MMA heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.

Jared Anderson landed 51% of his total punches including 55% of his power shots against Andriy Rudenko of Ukraine Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images

In the main event in Tulsa, unbeaten contender Jared Anderson (16-0, 15 KOs) stopped Andriy Rudenko of Ukraine (35-7, 21 KOs) inside five rounds.

In the opener, 2020 Olympic gold medalist Bakhodir “The Big Uzbek” Jalolov of Uzbekistan (13-0, 13 KOs) scored a first-round knockout of Onoriode Ehwarieme of Nigeria (20-3, 19 KOs)

“I know it had nothing to do with professional boxing and will assure you that such behavior will not be seen from me again in the future,” promised Kossobutskiy.