MONTREAL – Heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov will ultimately not be penalized by the WBA’s decision to remove the names of Russian and Belarusian boxers from its rankings.
The Russian-born Montrealer will indeed return to eighth place in the heavyweight rankings he occupied, promoter Camille Estephan confirmed in an interview with RDS.caThursday, on the sidelines of the Eye of the Tiger Management (EOTTM) gala presented at the Cabaret du Casino de Montréal.
“Arslanbek is recognized as a North American champion [de la WBA]. For us, it was not at all coherent and the WBA sided with our arguments, mentioned Estephan. We sent a letter to the WBA explaining that Arslanbek has been living in Quebec for five years now and that he is not boxing for a Russian team, but for himself. »
Estephan was concerned about Makhmudov’s situation, since the latter is knocking on the door of the top 5 global. He is also ranked 9th in the WBC, where he is the North American title holder. The promoter feared that all the work done for years would be reduced to nothing.
“It is clear that to exclude a boxer who is part of the top 5 or top 10 classification, it can cause enormous damage, concluded Estephan. In the case of Arslanbek, the investments have been colossal since the beginning of his career and I could not have let that pass. »
