- Bakhodir Jalolov stops Agron Smakici via corner retirement after seven rounds at Co-op Live, Manchester — moves to 17-0 (15 KOs).
- The towering Uzbek southpaw controlled the fight on range and footwork but rarely opened up — a measured, almost amateur-style points win that finally tipped over.
- If Jalolov is genuinely next for Moses Itauma, this performance does not give Frank Warren any sleepless nights.
A Win, Yes — But Don't Make Him A World Beater Off The Back Of It
Right then. Bakhodir Jalolov got the W. He stopped Agron Smakici via corner retirement before the eighth round at Co-op Live in Manchester, on the undercard of Wardley v Dubois. He moves to 17-0 with 15 knockouts, and the headline reads exactly the way it had to read.
But let's not beat around the bush. That was not the breakout performance some of us were hoping for from the two-time Olympic gold medallist. It was a measured, methodical, range-and-jab job from a 6'7" southpaw who looked content to bank rounds rather than bury an opponent ranked nowhere near the heavyweight top 30.
Make no mistake, Smakici (now 21-4, 19 KOs) tried. The Croatian came forward in spurts, lunged in with the left hand, took the seventh round to the doctor before the corner finally said enough. Brave heart, modest ceiling. But you wanted Big Uzbek to make a statement against him. Statement-making, this was not.
Jalolov's Style Problem — Amateur In A Pro World
Here's the thing with Jalolov, and it's a thing I keep coming back to. The amateur pedigree is undeniable. The size is real. The southpaw left hand, when he sits down on it, is genuinely dangerous. But on a professional Saturday night, sat behind a stiff jab and circling out, he looks like a man fighting at the AIBA worlds rather than a heavyweight contender hunting for a knockout.
He landed a clubbing left in the middle rounds. There were one or two flush shots. But the long stretches of clinching, the head-down mauling, Smakici walking onto him without paying the proper price — that's the bit that keeps Jalolov stuck on the outside of every meaningful conversation in the division.
If you know, you know — boxers who fight like that win plenty of fights. They just don't usually win belts. Not against the Itaumas, the Wardleys, the Hrgovics of the division.
Itauma Is The Conversation — And Tonight Did Not Help
Jalolov has been talking up Moses Itauma in the build-up. Saying the Brit is the fight he wants. Saying he believes the southpaw left hand is the answer to that puzzle. Fine. Fair enough. Brave callout, even.
But on the strength of what we just saw in Manchester? No, sorry. There's no version of the world where this performance pushes Frank Warren to greenlight Itauma v Jalolov as the next move. The fight Jalolov wants is the fight that nobody who watched him tonight is asking for. He needed seven of the most cautious rounds anyone is going to fight in 2026 to grind down a 21-4 heavyweight. Itauma would, on this evidence, be a different proposition entirely.
The talent is there. The level he showed in Manchester is not.
Where Does Jalolov Go From Here?
Sensible matchmaking suggests one more step-up before the big-name conversation gets serious. Maybe a top-15 European heavyweight. Maybe a former cruiserweight on the way up. Whatever it is, it has to come with the brief: be the destroyer the resume says you should be.
Because the Olympic golds and the 17-0 record only carry you so far. Heavyweight boxing is full of giant amateurs whose pro careers fizzled because they couldn't translate the medals into menace. Jalolov is teetering on that line. He's got the gifts. He needs the urgency.
My read? He gets one more eight-rounder of this stripe and the whispers turn into shouts. Sit down on the left hand, Bakhodir. The division is wide open and you've got the one thing every promoter wants — size and an Olympic CV. Don't waste it on more amateur-style banking exercises. Manchester deserved more. So did the heavyweight division.