Arslanbek Makhmudov

Arslanbek Ruslanovich Makhmudov (Russian: Арсланбек Русланович Махмудов, Kumyk: Arslanbek Mahmut Ruslannı ulanı; born 7 June 1989) is a Russian professional boxer based in Canada. He competes in the heavyweight division. Known for his power and aggression, Makhmudov has won 19 of his 23 bouts by stoppage, 13 of which came in the first round. He has held several regional and minor titles, including the WBC Continental Americas title in 2019, the WBC-NABF title between 2019 and 2023, the WBA–NABA title from 2021 to 2022, the WBC Silver title in 2022, and the WBA Inter-Continental title twice in 2023 and 2025.

Arslanbek was born in the town of Mozdok in North Ossetia–Alania (then known simply as North Ossetia) to a Kumyk family. He studied in Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism. In his amateur career he performed for "Dinamo" boxing team based in Moscow, and won the European student championship.

After relocating to Montreal, Canada, Makhmudov made his professional debut on 8 December 2017, scoring a first-round technical knockout (TKO) victory over Jaime Barajas at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto.

He scored four stoppage wins in 2018, with TKOs over Christian Larrondo in April; Elder Hernandez in May; and Emilio Zarate in October, followed by a knockout (KO) over Andrew Satterfield in November. With the exception of Zarate, Makhmudov stopped all of these opponents in the first round, while Zarate was finished in the second.

He then began 2019 with two more TKO victories, including Jason Bergman in January, and then Avery Gibson in March 2019. Following these victories, he fought for his first professional title against Jonathan Rice on 17 May at the Montreal Casino, capturing the vacant WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title via seventh-round TKO; this was his first fight to go beyond the second round. He won his second regional championship, the WBC-NABF heavyweight title, via third-round TKO against Julian Fernandez on 28 September of the same year at the Montreal Casino. The first defence of his WBC-NABF title came against former world champion Samuel Peter on 7 December 2019 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Makhmudov retained his title via first-round TKO. Makhmudov made his second title defence against Dillon Carman on 10 October 2020. He won the fight by a first-round technical knockout, stopping Carman after just 27 seconds.

On 23 July 2021, Mahmudov faced Pavel Sour in the third defence of his WBC-NABF title, with the vacant WBA-NABA heavyweight title also on the line. He won the fight by a first-round knockout, stopping Sour with a right straight after just 37 seconds. Makhmudov defended the two titles against Erkan Teper on 23 September 2021. He won the fight by a first-round stoppage, as Teper retired from the fight at the end of the round.

Makhmudov successfully defended his WBC-NABF and WBA-NABA titles against the one-time unified heavyweight title challenger Mariusz Wach on 19 February 2022. He won the fight by a sixth-round technical knockout. Makhmudov made another WBC-NABF and WBA-NABA heavyweight title defence against Carlos Takam on 16 September 2022. Aside from the aforementioned titles, the vacant WBC Silver heavyweight title was on the line as well. Makhmudov dropped Takam twice on the way to a unanimous decision victory, his first bout to go the distance.

Makhmudov was expected to defend his two regional titles against the undefeated Raphael Akpejiori on 16 December 2022. Akpejiori withdrew from the bout on 16 November, as his team opted to pursue a different fight instead. Michael Wallisch stepped in as a replacement, whom Makhmudov defeated via 1st-round TKO. He eventually faced Akpejiori 1 July 2023 at Huntington Center, Toledo, defending his WBC–NABF title via second-round TKO in what was Makhmudov's American debut.

On 28 October 2023, Makhmudov fought on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, successfully defending his WBC–NABF title for the ninth time by defeating Junior Anthony Wright in the first round, capturing the vacant WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title as well. Later that year, Makhmudov faced Agit Kabayel at the Day of Reckoning event in Riyadh on 23 December in defence of his two titles. Kabayel, who was also undefeated at 23–0, had previously held the European heavyweight title yet entered as a heavy underdog against the much larger and harder-hitting Makhmudov. Despite this, Makhmudov lost in a shocking upset by fourth-round TKO. The first three rounds saw Makhmudov lunging in with the intention to knock Kabayel out early, constantly missing and throwing himself off balance due to Kabayel's superior footwork, who repeatedly countered Makhmudov with hard shots to the head. The fourth round saw an exhausted Makhmudov fighting off of the backfoot, with Kabayel focusing his attack to the body and dropping Makhmudov three times before the referee waved off the fight. With this loss, Makhmudov dropped to 18–1, losing his regional titles in the process.

Following his loss to Kabayel, Makhmudov briefly rebounded with a second-round KO over Miljan Rovcanin on 25 May 2024. However, his next fight that year saw him lose again by TKO, this time against Guido Vianello on 17 August, losing via doctor stoppage in the eighth round due to severe swelling over his left eye.

Almost a year after his loss to Vianello, Makhmudov returned to the ring on 27 June 2025 with a first-round KO over Ricardo Brown.

Makhmudov challenged Dave Allen on 11 October 2025 for the WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title at Sheffield Arena, England. He won via unanimous decision with the judges' scorecards reading 115–111, 117–109 and 116–110, all in his favour, becoming the WBA Inter-Continental champion for the second time in his career. This was Makhmudov's second fight to go the distance and the first to go 12 rounds. He was largely dominant throughout, landing almost at will, though he was unable to drop Allen (who has never been dropped in his career) and appeared to fade in the later frames, absorbing several punches himself while against the ropes and losing two points for excessive holding. Following his win, Makhmudov called out Anthony Joshua.

On 28 January 2026, it was announced that Makhmudov would fight Tyson Fury on 11 April 2026 at a venue to be confirmed later in the United Kingdom. It was announced on 12 February 2026, that the fight would take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.