Sultan Ibragimov

Sultan-Ahmed Magomedsalihovich Ibragimov (Султан-Ахмед Магомедсалихович Ибрагимов, Султан-АхӀмад МухӀаммадсалихӀазул вас Ибрагьимов; born 8 March 1975) is a Russian former professional boxer.

Feliks Stamm Memorial (91 kg), Warsaw, Poland, September 1998:

USA–Russia Duals (91 kg), Marquette, Michigan, November 1998:

USA–Russia Duals (91 kg), Mashantucket, Connecticut, November 1998:

Trofeo Italia (91 kg), Naples, Italy, March 1999:

USA–Russia Duals (91 kg), Mashantucket, Connecticut, April 1999:

Russian National Championships (91 kg), Chelyabinsk, Russia, June 1999

Black Sea Cup (91 kg), Sevastopol, Ukraine, October 1999:

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 (boxer) 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, having only lost to Wladimir Klitschko in his final fight.

Summer Olympics (91 kg), Sydney, Australia, September 2000:

European Championships (91 kg), Tampere, Finland, May 2000:

Four Nations International Tournament (91 kg), Moscow, Russia, July 2000:

Strandzha Cup (91 kg), Plovdiv, Bulgaria, February 2001:

World Championships (91 kg), Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 2001:

After turning professional, Ibragimov agreed to be managed by Boris Grinberg.

He was also supported by the Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov.

He competed from 2002 to 2008, and held the WBO world heavyweight title from 2007 to 2008.

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.

He was ranked by The Ring as the world's sixth best active heavyweight at the conclusion of 2007 and 2008.

As of November 2020, BoxRec ranks Ibragimov as the 12th greatest Russian fighter of all time, pound-for-pound.

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.)