Sultan-Ahmed Magomedsalihovich Ibragimov (, ; born 8 March 1975) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2008. He held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) heavyweight title from 2007 to 2008. He was ranked by The Ring as the world's sixth best active heavyweight at the conclusion of 2007 and 2008. As an amateur, he won silver medals at the 2000 Olympics and 2000 European Championships, and bronze at the 2001 World Championships, all in the heavyweight division.
Ibragimov is one of seven southpaws to become world heavyweight champion: the others being Michael Moorer, Corrie Sanders, Chris Byrd, Ruslan Chagaev, Charles Martin, and Oleksandr Usyk. He remains one of only five former world heavyweight champions, alongside Gene Tunney, Rocky Marciano, Riddick Bowe and Nikolai Valuev to have never suffered a stoppage defeat. He also holds the second least career losses among former world heavyweight champions (a distinction he holds with Tunney and surpassed only by the undefeated Marciano), having only lost to Wladimir Klitschko in his final fight. As of November 2020, BoxRec ranks Ibragimov as the 12th greatest Russian fighter of all time, pound-for-pound.
Amateur career Ibragimov took up boxing at the age of 17, when he came to Rostov-on-Don and joined a local college, training under a tutelage of Anatoly Chernyayev. Soon after he was spotted by the AIBA Vice President and Russia's top boxing official Ramazan Abacharayev, his compatriot from Dagestan, who became his trainer and mentor for a long time.
Ibragimov had over 130 fights as an amateur, competing in heavyweight, claiming 135 victories, and having at least 6 known losses (no stoppages.)
Highlights
Feliks Stamm Memorial (91 kg), Warsaw, Poland, September 1998: 1/4: Defeated Adam Roguszka (Poland) RSC 1 1/2: Defeated Vladimir Ganstatiuc (Moldova) on points, 7–2 (4 rds) Finals: Lost to Wojciech Bartnik (Poland) on points, 5–6 (4 rds) USA–Russia Duals (91 kg), Marquette, Michigan, November 1998: Lost to Malik Scott (United States) on points, 6–11 USA–Russia Duals (91 kg), Mashantucket, Connecticut, November 1998: Defeated DaVarryl Williamson (United States) on points, 21–16 Trofeo Italia (91 kg), Naples, Italy, March 1999: 1/4: Lost to Giacobbe Fragomeni (Italy) on points, 4–8 (4 rds) USA–Russia Duals (91 kg), Mashantucket, Connecticut, April 1999: Defeated DaVarryl Williamson (United States) RSC 3 Russian National Championships (91 kg), Chelyabinsk, Russia, June 1999 1/8: Defeated Vasiliy Kalinichenko by unanimous decision, 5–0 1/4: Defeated Yevgeniy Arkhipov by unanimous decision, 5–0 1/2: Defeated Sergey Lopatinskiy by unanimous decision, 5–0 Finals: Defeated Igor Kshinin by unanimous decision, 5–0 Black Sea Cup (91 kg), Sevastopol, Ukraine, October 1999: 1/4: Defeated Oleksandr Yatsenko (Ukraine) by split decision, 3–2 1/2: Defeated Stephen Reynolds (Ireland) RSC 1 Finals: Defeated Vladimir Chanturia (Georgia) by walkover
Summer Olympics (91 kg), Sydney, Australia, September 2000: 1/8: Defeated Pauga Laulau (Samoa) RSCO 4 1/4: Defeated Jackson Chanet (France) on points, 18–13 (4 rds) 1/2: Defeated Vladimir Chanturia (Georgia) on points, 19–14 (4 rds) Finals: Lost to Félix Savón (Cuba) on points, 13–21 (4 rds) European Championships (91 kg), Tampere, Finland, May 2000: 1/8: Defeated Primislav Dimovski (Macedonia) on points, 8–3 (4 rds) 1/4: Defeated Oleksandr Yatsenko (Ukraine) RET 3 1/2: Defeated Andreas Gustavsson (Sweden) on points, 10–3 (4 rds) Finals: Lost to Jackson Chanet (France) DQ 4 Four Nations International Tournament (91 kg), Moscow, Russia, July 2000: 1/2: Defeated Oleksandr Yatsenko (Ukraine) Finals: Defeated Timur Ibragimov (Uzbekistan) on points, 12–5 Strandzha Cup (91 kg), Plovdiv, Bulgaria, February 2001: 1/4: Defeated Nasser al-Shami (Syria) on points, 12–1 1/2: Defeated Roberto Cammarelle (Italy) RSCI 2 Finals: Defeated Felix Blazquez Barbero (Spain) by walkover World Championships (91 kg), Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 2001: 1/16: Defeated Stephen Reynolds (Ireland) on points, RSCH 2 1/8: Defeated Edson Claas (Brazil) KO 2 1/4: Defeated Kubrat Pulev (Bulgaria) on points, 15–12 (4 rds) 1/2: Lost to Odlanier Solís (Cuba) on points, 13–23 (4 rds)
Professional career
Early fights
After turning professional, Ibragimov agreed to be managed by Boris Grinberg. He was also supported by the Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov. Ibragimov made his professional boxing debut on 25 May 2002, defeating Tracy Williams by first-round knockout. He won his first four fights by KO/TKO in the first round each. Just two weeks after his fourth bout, Ibragimov defeated Lincoln Luke by second-round TKO in what would be his last fight in 2002. In his sixth bout, Ibragimov, with a perfect record of 5 bouts, 5 wins, 5 KOs, faced Chad Butler, who had a 4–0–0 record with 4 KOs coming into the fight. Ibragimov knocked Butler down three times but could not finish him, ultimately winning the fight by unanimous decision (UD) with scores 59–52 (twice) and 58–53. Ibragimov later described the fight as the toughest and the most interesting of his career: "[Coming into the fight] I had five bouts and [scored] five knockouts, he had four fights and [scored] four knockouts. He was being knocked down but kept moving forward. If he hadn't ended up in prison, he would've accomplished a lot because of his assertivity." During the fight, legendary boxing trainer Angelo Dundee was spotted in Ibragimov's corner. In the post-fight interview, Dundee confirmed his return to professional boxing and that it was Ibragimov who convinced him to come out of retirement. He praised Ibragimov for his talent and boxing IQ, and predicted Ibragimov to become a future world heavyweight champion.
Ibragimov had his next fight less than a month later against Brazilian journeyman Carlos Barcelete. It was Ibragimov's first professional fight that took place in his native Russia. Ibragimov made a quick work of Barcelete, sending him to the canvas in the 2nd and knocking him out in the following round with a left hook. Barcelete was reportedly unconscious for an extended period of time, and had to be woken up by the ringside doctors. After the fight, Dundee once again praised Ibragimov for his performance: "America might finally see a great white heavyweight champion for the first time in 50 years." Ibragimov stayed in Russia for his next fight against Marcus McGee. It was Ibragimov's first 8-round fight of his professional career. Ibragimov defeated McGee by eighth-round TKO. After scoring two more first-round stoppages, Ibragimov then faced his former teammate Alexey Osokin, defeating him by a wide unanimous decision.
Ibragimov then returned to the United States, defeating Onebo Maxime by fifth-round TKO. Less than two months later, Ibragimov faced Najee Shaheed in a 12-round bout for the WBO Asia Pacific heavyweight title as part of the double-header which also featured Timur Ibragimov (who was referred to as Sultan's cousin, despite the fact that Sultan and Timur are not related) against Shawn Robinson. Sultan knocked out Shaheed in the third round. WBO president Luis Perez, who attended the fight, praised Sultan for his performance and said that Ibragimov would be eligible to become the mandatory challenger for the WBO world heavyweight championship after two or three successful defenses of the regional title. By November 2004, Ibragimov was ranked WBO's No. 14 heavyweight contender.
In his fifth and final fight of 2004, Ibragimov faced James Walton in his first defense of the Asia Pacific title. In the second round, Ibragimov sent Walton through the ropes with a series of body shots, however the referee concluded that the punches were below the belt and deducted two points from Ibragimov. Walton did not come out of his corner for the seventh round, prompting the referee to stop the fight and declare Ibragimov the winner by sixth-round TKO. At the conclusion of 2004, Ibragimov had a perfect record of 14–0 with 12 KOs and was ranked No. 11 heavyweight contender by WBO.
Ibragimov vs. Cole, Lawrence, Ahunanya
Ibragimov then took a big step up in competition when he agreed to face former IBF world cruiserweight champion Al Cole on 3 March 2005. The fight took place at the Madison Square Garden Theater and headlined the card that also featured Timur Ibragimov, former world super-featherweight champion Kevin Kelley and heavyweight contender Shannon Briggs. Cole was 3–3–1 in his last seven fights which included unanimous decision (UD) wins over undefeated prospect Vinny Maddalone and hard-hitting David Izon and a draw against former world heavyweight title challenger Jeremy Williams, with all his losses coming by way of decision. Cole was coming off of a close UD loss to Hasim Rahman, and had only been stopped by Corrie Sanders and long-time cruiserweight champion Juan Carlos Gomez up to that date. Standing at a height of 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) and having a 203 cm (80 in) reach, Cole had a 5 cm (2 in) height and 10 cm (4 in) reach advantage over Ibragimov, while also weighing in at 233.75 lbs, 17.75 pounds heavier than Sultan. During pre-fight press-conference, boxing promoter Sal Musumeci compared Sultan Ibragimov to Rocky Marciano, noting that they have a similar fighting style and training process. He then claimed that both Sultan and Timur would fight for championship belts by the end of the year. The fight only lasted three rounds. In the third round, Ibragimov dropped Cole with a left hook-uppercut combination. Cole got up, but Ibragimov immediately followed up with a barrage of unanswered shots, prompting the referee to stop the fight.
Ibragimov had his next fight scheduled just one and a half month later against one of the more recognized American journeymen Zuri Lawrence. It was the fourth card in a row co-headlined by the Ibragimov boxers. Coming into the fight, Lawrence was 3–2–1 in his last six fights, which included an upset unanimous decision (UD) victory over undefeated Italian prospect Paolo Vidoz and a draw against Ray Austin. Lawrence had also never been knocked out in his career, with his previous stoppage losses being declared technical knockouts. Ibragimov dominated Lawrence throughout the entire fight. He knocked him down once in the fourth and twice more in the ninth. After the ninth round, Lawrence had a deep cut above his left eye and a broken nose. After Ibragimov knocked Lawrence down for the fourth time in the eleventh, the referee stopped the contest, preventing battered Lawrence from absorbing more punishment. Ibragimov defended his WBO Asia Pacific title for the fourth time on 24 June 2005, defeating Andy Sample by first-round TKO in the main event of the card co-headlined by the Ibragimov boxers for the fifth time in a row. By July 2005, Sultan Ibragimov was ranked No. 8 heavyweight contender by the WBO.