Tursynbay Kulakhmet right-hooks Heber Rondon to sleep!
Another Eastern European fighter looking to make a very quick statement in sport of boxing is junior middleweight Tursynbay Kulakhmet from Kazakhstan! He will showcase his talents against the undefeated but unknown Venezuelan Heber Rondon. The bout will take place on the undercard of Jamel Herring’s WBO junior lightweight title defense against Carl Frampton.
The Kazakh enjoyed a prosperous amateur career capped with a 2019 World Championship Bronze medal. After turning pro in August 2020, he won the WBC minor title in his second professional fight against undefeated Brit Macaulay McGowan. The win put many hardcore boxing fans on notice as many felt the challenge could prove too tough on paper.
Rondon is the epitome of an “unknown fighter”. He fought all twenty of his bouts in Venezuela and has no record of an amateur career. Because of this, he spent his time beating up on on opponents with losing records and debut bouts. Of his twenty wins, eight were against fighters debuting in the professional ranks. He did defeat an undefeated fighter in Bryan Medina in February 2020, but he too was an unknown fighter in his own right.
The lack of experience would be a major factor!
IN AND OUT!
There isn’t much to recap here. Kulakhmet opened the bout doing what he does best. Stalking his opponent and making him uncomfortable on the back-foot while looking to land his signature right-hook. It didn’t take long for that to happen!
Seconds into the first round, a right hook slumped Rondon in a corner, He looked extremely hurt and seemed as if he would not make the count. Surprisingly, he gets back to his feet but it the end was evident given how hurt he just looked.
Then at 1:40 into the round (moments after the first knockdown), another right-hook landed flush. Rondon’s body did a complete 180 he looked like a character from the 1987 classic Nintendo game Mike Tyson’s Punchout getting knockout by Little Mac! The way his limp body hit the canvas made it clear no count was needed!
THE WIN MAY NOT HAVE HELPED
In the post-fight interview, Kulakhmet’s manager and translator gave his opinion on how the nature of this win may have been a determent. He explained that no other junior middleweight would want to get in the ring with his charge after seeing this stoppage. As a result, it will make it difficult to find fights for the Kazakh.
Whether that may be true, given he is only 3-0 and unranked by all of the major sanctioning bodies, boxing fans won’t give the top guys in the junior middleweight division any grief if they don’t mention Kulakhmet’s name!
By: EJ Williams
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