Ismayl Sillakh (Spoilers inside!!!)

Many people have been saying they have been very impressed with Ismayl Sillakh and think he will be the next star in the light heavyweight division.

Well...

He was shockingly stopped in the 8th round last night by an unknown Russian Denis Grachev.

I am currently trying to find full footage of the fight.

Thoughts?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miOI1EMBnTM&feature=g-logo

He would still beat Cleverly though who is rubbish and a disgrace to boxing

Cheers mate, although we are not supposed to post videos, so I would remove it!

I haven't seen him before, but buncey always thought he was overrated.

We can post Youtube videos

Union Cane spends every moment of his life doing it

Oh I see lol, cool.

Hmm how Sillakh managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory I will never know. He hardly got hit clean all night and one good punch did him in....

He took a good beating before the stoppage as well didnt he

Yeah but he should have taken a knee or done something else, not just stand there like a punch bag.

Looking forward to the 'Grachev would beat Cleverly who is ducking him' brigade to start

Can not believe it!

I still rate him very highly, but this lapse in concentration will cost him terribly in his career. I don't think many of the big boys in the LHW division fancied going up against him before, but now they have another seriously valid excuse to ignore him (beyond his lack of 'name').

Can't understand why he didn't take a knee!

That was a worrying lack of boxing IQ and survival skills from Sillakh. To get tagged once then just back into a corner and not even try to hold or spoil while the other guy just threw slow telegraphed punches.

Teddy Atlas's commentary was excellent, he knew exactly what was going to happen he was talking about the right hand from the keys to victory!

I love his metaphors.

I'm on round 6 and Teddy just said "I really think that somewhere in his future is a right hand with his name on it. Just waiting to catch him. Then you're gonna know what you have or what you dont have."

Damn, I think Sillakh started to give him more chances from 5 onwards, where he began to back pedal exclusively rather than boxing him one on one a little more like earlier on.

He'd still trouble some top guys though, presuming he learns from this. Seems like being a puncher is an important part of defeating Sillakh so I wouldn't be picking Cleverly too soon Steffan!

Didn't see this coming! Haven't watched the fight yet, will get down to it shortly.

Grachev as open and readable as a book. Makes it all the more shocking how Sillakh played into his hands. Distinct lack of adaptation and intelligence there.

Real shocker this one, didnt show any survival skills and didnt look good from RD 5 on to be honest.

Can't believe Sillakh lost to that journeyman. From the highlights I saw Sillakh looked like he lacked potency and couldn't keep his man off him. Looks like he can't give or take a good punch. I thought he might beat Cleverly but after seeing such a lazy and tepid performance I don't think he'll amount to being as good.

Disagree, he can definitely give a good punch, though he did only take bombs. Left his chin hanging in the air and you take one of those clean and even Malignaggi can have you in a bit of trouble.

Nah, he can give a good punch to my postman or Mr Morris who lives next door to my mam but anyone decent it doesn't look like he can. His record is full of cans and the one quarter decent guy he fights (who is mostly a kickboxer) he can't hurt. He was frequently back pedalling. As for taking a good punch well maybe he can and his issue is a lack of survival skills. Why didn't he just fall when he was tagged and take the count? He just stood on the ropes and took the beating that he was administered with.

Typical case of an overprotected Euro fighter who stepped up (slightly) in class and got his rear end delivered to him.

Despaigne is a decent puncher and he took some good shots off him. If you leave your chin open like that your going to get stopped.

He's a classy guy who obviously had a bad night. This could turn out to be the best thing that has happened to him as long he takes it right.

Too early to be drawing conclusions either way. To say he didn't hurt the guy is harsh, he had him down earlier and certainly had the accuracy and technique to catch Grachev flush. But he didn't capitalize and his defence was awful.

Maybe a change of trainer is in order. He might move on from here and improve or he might not. Time will tell.

Personally I agree with what somebody said above, he was slightly protected and that can lead to complacency which can then lead to these type of results.

Still think he can be a world class fighter and Super D completely disagree, he may not be an absolute knockout artist, but he carries more than respectable power in his punches.

We say records are protected too much, then when a guy takes a defeat we jump all over him and write him off.

After round 5 he allowed Grachev back into the fight. Atlas was saying before the fight that the way he backs up with his left hand down leaves him open for a right. His survival instincts are poor. But y'know what? Ezzard Charles was bounced off the canvas like a ball early in his career to Jimmy Bivins (I think) and he turned out alright.