Who Won the Weekend? Bivol and Madrimov Get NYF #WWTW “W”

There was a Facebook Fightnight Live and DAZN and also Fox screened fare…so there were plenty of persons to choose from when we looked to determine Who Won the Weekend?

And somewhat surprisingly, a 1-0 fighter, a man from Uzbekistan, won the hearts of the NYF crew, on this occasion, anyway.

Tell us, folks, who won the weekend?

“I tell you what, Israil Madrimov is for real and not for the fake of heart,” said John Gatling. “This superstar-in-the-making (sometimes you just know) just won something a little more vast than the weekend– he's won the future. As far as that magical respite for us weekly warriors, that would be WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. His 12-round athletic clinic over Joe Smith Jr, which featured free over-the-counter power shots and sick aesthetics, highlighted a tremendous DAZN presentation while setting up a score settling tilt of sorts with Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev. Bivol even overcame a gut-check moment at the end of the 10th when Smith happened, and damn near finished him at the end of the 12th. Dmitry Bivol just may be a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport whose star is still on the rise.”

“Bivol won the weekend,” said Kelsey McCarson. “Some people might not enjoy how patient he is as a boxer, but that temperament is what will help him when he starts fighting the elite light heavyweights. It will lead to a long, lucrative fight career. He's the best fighter I saw this weekend and delivered a solid performance over a very game Joe Smith.”

“Jab Hook has decided to bestow the nickname “The Decisionater” on Dmitry Bivol,” said Joe “Jab Hook” Healy. “Jab also considered dubbing him “The Judges' Favorite” but that's a little mean. Intelligent boxing is his goal, i.e he likes drawing out the bout with round after round of discouraging domination divested from the KO. The intelligent boxing movement is ripe with talented boxers like Rigondeaux, Lara, Lomachenko, Usyk, and now even sometimes Kovalev. But the fan market is often shy with such “Sweet Scientists” and usually neglects them. In any case, “The Decisionater” won the weekend with his relentless domination of the scorecards. He stole rounds like a Berlin pickpocket in the park taking advantage of a naive American tourist from Mastic, Long Island. The frustration of being beat to the punch, counter-punched at will and pushed around for 12 rounds was clearly visible on Joe Smith Jr's face and between rounds in his corner. “The Irish Bomber” landed only one really hard haymaker at the bell ending the 10th round, but Bivol wobbled a bit and just shook it off. No trace of that shot to the temple was seen on Bivol's strong performance in the rest of the bout, nice chin on the “The Decisionater” as he defended his WBA belt successfully the forth time.

“My winner is the loser of last week's main event – Yordenis Ugas,” said Hamza Ahmed. “Finally having gotten the high profile main event, on prime time television, for a world title, against Shawn Porter and in a currently stacked welterweight division, Ugas proved he's a problem. It's been the tale of his career, cast in as a replacement or underdog on a run which included victories over top prospect Jamal James, Bryant Perella, Nelson Lara, Lenny Ghvamichava, Ray Robinson and Thomas Dulorme. 

He acquitted himself well and proved he belongs with the elite. Many suggest he should have been awarded the victory and perhaps a victory would have been the cherry on the top of a very long cake, a reward of his past efforts. He shouldn't be aggrieved though, time for Ugas to dust himself off and come back again.”

Who won the weekend, Tom Penney? “Israil Madrimov! This fuckin' kid. Now 2-0 in his first two fights against Vladimir Hernandez and Frank Rojas (who is thankfully not too badly hurt), he is on a rare path. Rojas and Hernandez were a combined 34-4, and Madrimov now has a small bargaining chip in whatever Inter-Continental belt he picked up last night. The kid has huge power and a tremendous sense of what he should be doing in the ring, a rare calmness in his approach. Being on DAZN and having a minor belt heading into his third pro fight means that Madrimov won't have the same issues making fights that his idol Gennady Golovkin did. I'm beyond excited to see what this kid can do.”

“Porter wins!…JK,” said Rob Ayala. “Rojas and Hernandez have winning records and Madrimov made quick work outta them. The Eastern European fighters are becoming the true badasses of the sport. Sad, but Madrimov will be avoided.”

“Bivol won the weekend by thoroughly controlling a really good fighter in Joe Smith Jr,” said David Phillips. “At 16-0, I think his next move is to take another step up in class and give the people what they want…Bivol vs. Kovalev. It seems that after avenging his loss to Alvarez, Sergey is feeling himself again. If there's a way to bridge the gap betwixt DAZN and Top Rank, it would be a fine sight to see. I do want to throw a bone at Shawn Porter. I'm not even sure the guy won his fight, but the thing I love about Porter is he tries as hard as anyone in boxing, He's not the best or most talented, but he never lacks for effort. He shows up to every scrap with a full heart and a willingness to mix it up. Were it that we could say that about everyone.”

“Israil Madrimov,” said Matt Andrzejewski. “Sitting ringside at Turning Stone, was blown away by the punching power and skill. Very high ceiling. And close second to Callum Johnson. Very big puncher and put on quite a power punching show against Monaghan. With 175 so deep, Johnson got right back in the mix.”

“I lost the weekend,” said Evan “Fistianados Podcast” Rutkowski. “I’m on two year old duty with a sick kid while my wife is out of town. For the record, my daughter was not a fan of Porter/Ugas.”

Madrivov gets the W on my card…But co-honors go to a guy I saw with my own two eyes, so I give some heft to that. Aleem Jumakhanov took on Jude Franklin, a guy from Tajikistan versus the NY favorite, at Club Amazura in Jamaica, Queens, NY on Friday evening, and on Facebook Fightnight Live. That featherweight six rounder resulted in a draw, according to the judges, but not on my card. Aleem won 4-2 maybe, or it was 3-2-1…but Aleem won. BoxRec won't show that, so I'm seeking to rectify that the tiniest bit.

Aleem, you won a good part of the weekend, to me, bro.