In what was by all accounts a phenomenal action fight, super featherweight contender Eduardo Nunez kept his 100% knockout rate intact by stopping Shavkat Rakhimov in the latter’s native Tajikistan.
Nunez (27-1, 27 KO), a slight underdog, flipped the script on the pressure-savvy Rakhimov (17-2-1, 14 KO) and ultimately battered him into submission in the eleventh round. The win marks “Sugar’s” 17th in a row and the third time in his last five fights that he’s stopped his opponent in the double-digit rounds.
It also earns him a mandatory shot at champion Joe Cordina. Both men share a promoter in Eddie Hearn, who got so excited at the finish that he wound up hitting his head on a pot dangling from his ceiling, so odds are that we’ll see the pair share a ring this year if Cordina gets past Anthony Cacace in May.
Matchroom clearly have someone special on their hands and I’m eager to see him get a shot at the big time.
As for Rakhimov, he’s now dropped two straight and sits at 2-2-1 since since an impressive comeback knockout of Azinga Fuzile in 2019. It’s a skid that’s exponentially more worrying on paper than in practice, as he knocked out Zelfa Barrett and went toe-to-toe with Cordina and JoJo Diaz, but he once again leaves a major fight empty-handed.