Ji-Hoon Kim defies all odds and unanimously nails undefeated Alisher Rahimov – Boxing News
Ji-Hoon Kim, the current South Korea lightweight champion, put forth the boxing fanatics an impressive performance and outpointed the undefeated Alisher Rahimov, the current WBO Asia Pacific and WBC Asian Boxing Council lightweight champion, in a 10-round
bout held on May 25, 2012.
Kim astonished the whole crowd by his speed, agility, resilience and impressive footwork and outclassed the fan-favourite Rahimov in all the basic facet of the sport. The ring for the event was set up at Ameristar Casino situated in Saint Charles, Missouri,
United States and the event was promoted by the duo of Art Pelullo of Banner Promotions and Steven Smith of Rumble Time Promotions.
The above duo headlined the Friday night showdown which was televised live by ESPN2 in its weekly boxing show ‘Friday Night Fights’ whereas the eight-round non-title heavyweight bout between Vincent Thompson and Joell Godfrey co-headlined the extravaganza.
Kim, 25, was entering in his 31st career bout and boasted 23 wins. The young Korean proud has nailed 18 of his opponents by knockout and possesses a decent knockout proficiency.
Also known as the ‘Volcano’, Kim was on a two-bout win streak and grabbed his country’s apex divisional title after collecting a split decision over undefeated Dong-Hyuk Kim.
His Friday night opponent, Rahimov, 34, was on an undefeated streak and since the inception of his career, boasted 23 wins in a total 23 bouts. Alisher, also known as ‘Ali’, somewhat lacked the ability to throw a powerful jab, the reason why he has nailed
just 12 opponents by knockout.
Moreover, each and every analyst even Rahimov and his coach themselves predicted before the bout that Kim has a substantial height and reach advantage which will create problems for them.
During the bout, it seemed that their fears came true as Kim outclassed Rahimov with a huge barrage of jabs that though did not connect well on their target yet stunned Alisher every now and then.
Kim threw a huge 433 jabs with a power of 792 whereas Rahimov was just successful in throwing 204 punches with a visibly low power of 420. The reason for Alisher being so defensive was simple.
Kim threw his punches from a substantial distance and whenever Rahimov tried to break his defence by entering his range he was received brutally by Kim’s jabs. Both men did put forth a tough competition and collected much praise from the crowd.
At the end of the day it was Kim who rose at the occasion by collecting 98-92, 97-93, and 96-94 score. This is the first ever loss for Alisher and is being dubbed as a serious setback for the Uzbek proud.
Kim, on the other hand, has got media’s due attention as this current win has not only improved his resume but has also aided him in moving up to the top ranks.
Tags: