One way of gauging the ability of a fighter – particularly his punching power – is the number of sparring partners he scares away.
Bektemir Melikuziev, the stout super middleweight prospect from Uzbekistan, has driven off so many of them that trainer Joel Diaz is running out of options at their training camp in Indio, Calif.
Melikuziev (6-0, 5 KOs) fights Sergey Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) on Jan. 30 in Moscow (DAZN).
“It’s so hard to find sparring,” Diaz told Boxing Junkie. “Every time I bring someone in, he hurts them. Honestly, every, single fighter I have out here – cruiserweights, even heavyweights – he just hurts them. They don’t want to spar no more.
“The last couple of weeks I’ve had to pay top dollar to get people to spar with him. I’m telling you: He’s very powerful, with both hands.”
Melikuziev, 24, is in the Mike Tyson or Canelo Alvarez mold, relatively short but thick and both athletic and strong. One difference: He’s a southpaw. And he has a special skill set honed over a long amateur career, which culminated in a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics.
The fighter’s nickname is “Bully,” which he says perfectly describes his style in the ring, not how he treats people.
“I’m a straight forward fighter,” he told Boxing Junkie through a translator. “It’s similar to any other fighter, I think. Your style comes from your personality. I come straight forward.
“I don’t care who I’m up against. I just go for it. That’s my style.”
That doesn’t mean that Melikuziev is reckless. Diaz made it clear that his fighter is more than mere aggression and power. There’s a method to his madness.
Diaz compared him to Manny Pacquiao in the sense that he constantly moves and his punches come from a variety of angles, some of which his opponents cannot anticipate. That, Diaz believes, makes him a difficult opponent for anyone.
“When I was training Tim Bradley for his fights with Pacquiao,” Diaz said, ” … [Bradley] told me, ‘By the third round, I was tired.’ I said, ‘You weren’t tired physically, you were tired mentally. Manny Pacquiao is always in and out, never in one spot. You don’t know where the punches are coming from. That breaks you down mentally.
“Bekt is the same way, in and out. He’s always moving his feet. And as soon as you make a move, he catches you. As soon as you open up, he catches you. He has perfect timing.”
One might question Melikuziev’s timing when it comes to accepting a fight with Sergey Kovalev, who represents a gamble for boxer with so few pro bouts.
Kovalev, 37, is a naturally bigger power-puncher with vast experience who proved against Canelo Alvarez in November 2019 that he can still handle himself.
Melikuziev said the plan wasn’t necessarily to go after someone of Kovalev’s ilk in his seventh pro fight. It was more a matter of seizing a good opportunity when it presented itself, which says something about his confidence.
They’ll fight at a catch weight of 178 pounds, three above the light heavyweight limit and 10 above Melikuziev’s natural weight of 168. That doesn’t seem to faze him. He made it clear that he’s a natural super middleweight but he isn’t tied to any division.
His goal is to beat big-name opponents regardless of their weight.
“That was required by my opponent,” Melikuziev said of the catch weight. “He has a name so I agreed to it. This is a big opportunity to put my name out there, to have this kind of fight. I don’t care. I’ll go after anyone between 160 and 175.
“I’m looking forward to this fight. I’ve prepared myself. I’m ready.”
That’s how Diaz feels, too.
“Every fight is a risk,” he said. “If you fight a guy barely turning pro, it’s a risk. If you fight a guy with experience, it’s a risk. That’s boxing. … If you look at Bekt’s resume as an amateur, he fought over 250 fights. He saw it all as an amateur.
“I know amateur and pro is different. He’s still maturing as a pro. But based on my experience, based on the potential I see in only six fights, Bekt is going to destroy Kovalev.”