KO Artist Bakhodir Jalolov Improves to 11-0 with a Frightful Knockout

KO Artist Bakhodir Jalolov Improves to 11-0 with a Frightful Knockout

“ShoBox: The New Generation” was at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York, tonight with a show run in conjunction with Induction Weekend at the nearby International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum. For the first time in the 21-year history of the long-running series, the card featured an Olympic gold medal heavyweight.

Bakhodir Jalolov, who won the gold medal for Uzbekistan at the Japan Summer Games, brought a 10-0 record as a pro into tonight’s contest with Belgian-Congolese campaigner Jack Mulowayi. Jalolov had knocked out all of his previous opponents and tonight the six-foot-seven southpaw extended that skein to 11.

It took the Uzbek eight rounds but when he finally closed the show, he did it in a frightful fashion, decking Mulowayi with a vicious left hook followed by a superfluous right uppercut. Mulowayi went down hard, referee Benjy Estevez didn’t bother to count, and the stricken fighter needed medical assistance before he was fit to leave the ring. The official time was 1:20 of the eighth and final round. The knockout was mindful of Jalolov’s highlight reel knockout of Richard Torrez Jr during their amateur days.

There were several moments earlier in tonight’s fight when it appeared that Jalolov was on the verge of ending matters. In the waning seconds of round six he decked Mulowayi with a left hook, but Mulowayi recovered during the break and lasted through another round.

The 35-year-old Mulowayi, whose record declined to 11-3-1, exhibited a lot of grit. Bakhodir Jalolov is the real deal.

Co-Feature

In an 8-round heavyweight contest that started slow, heated up in rounds five and six and then slowed down again, George Arias eaked out a split decision over Alante Green. The judges had it 78-74,77-75, and 75-77.

Arias, from the Bronx by way of the Dominican Republic, improved to 18-0 (7). It was the first pro loss for Cleveland’s Green (10-1-1).

A former New York Golden Gloves champion, Arias was coming off a career-best win over previously undefeated Cassius Chaney. He has his eyes set on fighting the winner of the forthcoming match between Michael Hunter and Hughie Fury.

Other Bouts of Note

Lightweight Chann Thonson, a native of Jamaica who fights out of the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec, battered and stopped Tennessee’s Tyler Tomlin who suffered his first pro loss and declined to 14-1. Thonson, whose twin brother Trevor Thonson is also a pro boxer (5-0 as of this writing), improved his ledger to 11-0 with his eighth win inside the distance. The official time was 1:01 of round five.

New Haven, Connecticut light heavyweight Charles Foster, a 32-year-old southpaw from a prominent New England boxing family, advanced to 21-0 (11 KOs) with a fourth-round stoppage of Bo Gibbs Jr who was 23-2 coming in.  Foster had too much class for Gibbs who hails from flyspeck Carney, Oklahoma, where his father is a preacher with a sideline as a boxing coach.

Foster had Gibbs on the canvas in the opening round. The fight was stopped three rounds later after Gibbs lost his mouthpiece. The official time was 2:48 of round four.

Toledo super welterweight Oshae Jones, an Olympic bronze medalist in Tokyo, won her pro debut, pitching a 6-round shutout over game Sonya Dreiling (4-3) who stayed the course despite an apparent broken nose.

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