Julio César La Cruz (CUB) vs. Imam Khataev (RUS) Russia-Rest of World Dual Match 2018 (81kg)

No worries, glad you enjoyed!

Thanks for the support😊

I’ve been looking for this fight for months so was very happy when I finally found it - took me a few hours but we got there in the end👌🏼

he was probably already in his proces of moving up in weight.

No he was still at 81kg then, fought at light-heavy at the World Championships the following year!

@@taylorohiggins1734 stil he looked a bit out of shape no? A bit more fat around his belly, or I could just be imagining things lol.

Yea I thought so too. Dominated the last few rounds, 3-2 for Julio I score it

LOL mate you already know how it is fighting these Russians ESPECIALLY Khataev. I've seen at least 4 robberies involving him just in the last year or so off of memory!

When I saw this result beforehand, I was almost certain that it was going to be a robbery given the fact that Khataev doesn’t cut off the ring well and struggles with mobile opponents - La Cruz is a nightmare stylistic matchup for him on paper. But I thought this was a close fight, and I don’t think the decision was a robbery. That’s mainly down to two things: 1) Khataev was patient with his pressure in the first couple of rounds - didn’t try to rush things or overcommit as much as we’re used to seeing. Mixed in feints, gave La Cruz different looks and landed some nice counters. He became increasingly frustrated as the fight went on though, and started throwing himself off-balance loading up on shots which made things easier for La Cruz. 2) La Cruz’s lack of output - which has been an issue before - cost him. He was making Khataev miss time and time again, but just didn’t throw enough to clearly win the rounds. Look at round 4 in particular - Khataev is landing very few of his punches, but La Cruz is content to just glide around and evade rather than counter. Ring generalship alone doesn’t win rounds, which made this fight closer than it needed to be. Lastly, the knockdown wasn’t a knockdown - the referee docked a point from Khataev straight afterwards, which suggests to me that he called for a break before Khataev knocked La Cruz down. Could’ve well been a disqualification in another country - not in Russia against the home fighter, though.

@@taylorohiggins1734 all good points, I agree that la Cruz didn’t output enough punches and cruised too long to convincingly beat Khataev. The judges in the east much prefer fighters going forward and pressuring too I think

@@taylorohiggins1734 also I disagree that stylistically la Cruz beats him easily on paper. Back foot counter punchers like him are matched up pretty well by fighters with good head movement and pressure, think Ali vs frazier as well

I strongly disagree.

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