Pacquiao, Spence, Porter and an Uzbek

The world welterweight unification bout between Errol Spence Jr. and Shawn Porter is stirring the pot for a potentially attractive offer to bring Manny Pacquiao into the mix. “The Truth” Spence, the IBF king, is facing probably his first major test against “Showtime” Porter, the WBC ruler, a long-time friend until the bridge between the two was burnt. Porter’s father Kenny was once Spence’s coach in the amateurs. 

Kenny and later, Shawn, were with Spence in many international competitions, and helped him prepare for the 2012 Olympic Games. The quarterfinals in London was the last time Spence claims he lost. As they made the rounds of talk shows on TV, radio and online, Spence has all but dismissed the Porter family contribution to his success, implying that they can no longer claim familiarity with his style or technique. Hence, the animosity.

Lost in the shuffle is WBO champion Terence Crawford, considered the most talented of the division’s title holders. Crawford is undefeated with 35 wins and 26 knockouts, last fought in April, beating Amir Khan by TKO. Crawford was the most mentioned possible opponent for Pacquiao among the champions, but has recently not been pushed. His situation is reminiscent of the rigodon among Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera almost 15 years ago. The three Mexicans were in the mix with Pacquiao, and Barrera was eventually left out after being knocked out by Pacquiao, who had spectacular rematches with Morales and Marquez, his most frequent opponent to date.

But there is one more name that could be a dark horse in the world welterweight sweepstakes: Qudratillo Abduqaxorov (also spelled Kudratillo Abdukakhorov)

Who?

Abduqaxorov (16-0, 9 knockouts) is from Uzbekistan, and has been the WBC Silver welterweight champion since 2017. The WBC created the Silver championship belts in 2010 to “provide more boxers an opportunity to win a title with world recognition.” It has somewhat evolved into a de facto world title opportunity for non-American boxers. In March of 2017, Abduqaxorov knocked out the cocky, overconfident Charles Manyuchi to win the belt. From the opening bell, Manyuchi mugged, dropped his hands, and mocked the Uzbek. After he lost his title, he wasn’t smiling anymore. In his first defense, Qudratillo bloodied and beat the much bigger Dmitry Mikhaylenko. 

Abduqaxorov last fought in March on the Crawford-Khan undercard where he demolished the taller, hard-nosed Keita Obara and carved out a unanimous decision win. Almost a year ago, former champion Jessie Vargas was ordered to fight Abduqaxorov. The two were ranked behind each other in the top five of the WBC and IBF. The winner was promised a title shot at Spence. Pacquiao beat Vargas by unanimous decision in 2016. 

Abduqaxorov is scheduled to fight Luis Collazo in a Philadelphia on Oct. 18. Collazo is an above-average fighter who has lost to virtually all the big names in the division: Keith Thurman, Khan, Andre Berto, Shane Mosley, Ricky Hatton. According to Vikram Swapragasam, CEO of Vladimir Boxing Promotions which manages Abduqaxorov, their next fight will be against Spence early next year. Qudratillo is a smart fighter who has power in both fists, and is adept at counter punching, as well. He pounces on openings when his opponents don’t cover up after throwing punches. And at 26, he will be befuddling rivals for a long time to come. 

Another interesting side note is that Vladimir Boxing Promotions also handles WBC featherweight contender and WBC Asia champion Mark Magsayo (20-0, 14 knockouts) and seven other boxers. So the Uzbek champion is stablemates with a future Filipino world champion, and both have a manager based in Malaysia. That shows the boxing has no geographic boundaries.