The lightweight defended his title with an impressive KO
Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev stopped boxing great Jorge Linares in the 12th round of a thrilling WBC silver lightweight title fight in Ekaterinburg on Saturday to set up a possible rematch with American champ Devin Haney.
A spectacular 12th-round technical knockout victory from Abdullaev after two heavy knockdowns of the former three-weight world champion made sure the Ekaterinburg-based boxer made a determined defence of his WBC silver lightweight title.
The 27-year-old, who showed laser-like concentration, guts and grit throughout their 12-round thriller, moved a step closer to a return with US idol and WBC champ Devin Haney, the only man to best him in 16 fights, doing so by bullying the Russian into a 4th round retirement in 2019.
Abdullaev now moves to 15-1 and registered the ninth early win of his career with the final stanza victory to stop 36-year-old Linares at 2:28 gone of the final three minutes at RCC Boxing Academy.
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© RT Sport / Danny Armstrong
Russian lightweight boxer Abdullaev was just eight years old when veteran ex-champ Jorge Linares made his professional debut.
Since a paid bow in 2002, Japan-based Venezuelan has gone on to become one of the sports superstars and TV darlings, by virtue of his blinding combinations, footwork and KO punching power that have delivered him three world titles in as many weight divisions.
Linares conquered the featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight divisions after winning his first world title 15 years ago, and had shown enough to mix it with some of today’s stars in his career twilight, evident when he knocked down one-time pound for pound king Vasyl Lomachenko in 2018.