Rakhim Chakhkiev vs. Kris Wlodarczyk

[Freedom]

Here's a video of a very entertaining fight from earlier today:

[Silkeyjoe]

Good fight. Wlod can hit. Remember he iced danny green when he was down on scorecard too. Despite the loss I was impressed with Rakhim. Good speed, aggressive. Makes schoolboy errors though. Comes very square when he attacks and drops his hands a lot. Would like to see either of these guys face Huck. Or Lebedev if his eye ever heals.

[TigerFan]

I caught this earlier. Very good fight. It looked like Chakhkiev was going to overwhelm Diablo...but his lack of stamina and raw technique came back to bite him.

But full credit to Diablo. I thought his low output (which is infuriating to watch) would cost him on the road in Moscow...lucky for him he's extremely heavy handed. He's probably the most underrated Cruiserweight in the world.

I would love to see a 4 man tourney with the beltholders: Huck, Jones, Wlodarczyk & Hernandez.

[Memphis]

Cracking fight and great showing from Wlodarczyk. As much as I wanted him to it looked like he couldn't come back from the shelling he was taking but he did. Sometimes refusing to go away is all it takes.

[p4pking]

Really good fight, had read a recap of it and expected a bit more of a dramatic comeback though tbh. Rakhim more or less punched himself out and started to go collapse from exhaustion as much as anything. Obviously Wlod is a good puncher mind you, but he didn't really do anything much to turn things around himself imo, the other guy was just trying to hang on by mid point.

No surprise Rakhim tired out like that but he looked pretty good early, I was actually quite impressed at the attack he was able to sustain with that kind of build. Would like to see either guy fight anyone else at cruiser, it's pretty well wide open imo.

[Freedom]

Here's Dan Rafael's opinion of the fight:

(from espn.com/boxing)

Krzysztof Wlodarczyk TKO8 Rakhim Chakhkiev
Retains a cruiserweight title
Records: Wlodarczyk (48-2-1, 34 KOs); Chakhkiev (16-1, 12 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: This was a dramatic fight as Wlodarczyk, 31, of Poland, got knocked down, was getting beaten up and trailing on all three scorecards through seven rounds (66-63, 66-64, 66-64) before rallying for four knockdowns in the knockout victory on the road in a brutal, man's-man kind of fight.

Wlodarczyk is putting together a very nice résumé when you look at this victory, a road defense in Australia against Danny Green in 2011, two wins against previously undefeated Francisco Palacios and a win against veteran contender Giacobbe Fragomeni to claim the vacant belt in 2010. He was making his fifth title defense when he faced Chakhkiev, 30, the 2008 Russian Olympic heavyweight gold medalist who is built like a tank. This was a grueling fight, the kind that takes years off a fighter's career. The aggressive Chakhkiev was dominant early. Late in the third round, he nailed Wlodarczyk with left hand and a cuffing right around the side of the head that dropped him to his knees. Wlodarczyk, whose right eye was cut and whose face was showing major damage, was rocked again with a right hand in the last few seconds of the round.

Wlodarczyk was hanging in there and broke through in the sixth round when he dropped Chakhkiev to his knees with a solid left hook just before the end of the round. Wlodarczyk scored a second knockdown late in the seventh round, scoring with a left hand during an exchange. Chakhkiev, bleeding from the nose, did not seem too hurt this time and popped up immediately. But in the toe-to-toe eighth round, Wlodarczyk caught him with a right hand during an exchange, dropping Chakhkiev to a knee midway through the round. He barely beat the count and moments later walked into a left hand and went down again, face first, prompting referee Daniel Van de Wiele to call off the fight without counting at 2 minutes, 3 seconds. Wlodarczyk, with blood streaming down his mashed up face, held up his arm in victory. What a helluva fight.

[Rantcatrat]

Best fight of the weekend.

Jones-Lebedev and then Wlodarczyk-Chakhkiev, and the cruiserweights are on a run.