Who won Papin vs Makabu?

Ilunga Makabu beat Aleksei Papin by majority decision in their 12 round contest on Saturday 24th August 2019 at Traktor Sport Palace in Chelyabinsk.

The scorecards were announced as 113-115, 113-115, 114-114 in favor of winner Ilunga Makabu.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 12 rounds in the Cruiserweight division, which meant the weight limit was 200 pounds (14.3 stone or 90.7 KG).

This fight appeared on the undercard of Sergey Kovalev's and Anthony Yarde's clash for the WBO World Light heavyweight championship.

Papin vs Makabu stats

Aleksei Papin stepped into the ring with an undefeated record of 11 wins, zero loses and 0 draws, 10 of those wins coming by the way of knock out.

Ilunga Makabu made his way to the ring with a record of 25 wins, 2 loses and 0 draws, with 24 of those wins by knock out.

The stats suggested Makabu had a slight advantage in power over Papin, with a 96% knock out percentage over Papin's 91%.

Aleksei Papin was the same age as Ilunga Makabu, at 35 years old.

Papin had a height advantage of 1 inch over Makabu.

Aleksei Papin fought out of the orthodox stance, while Ilunga Makabu was a southpaw.

Papin was the less experienced professional fighter, having had 16 less fights, and made his debut in 2015, 7 year and 5 months later than Makabu, whose first professional fight was in 2008. He had fought 92 less professional rounds, 61 to Makabu's 153.

Aleksei Papin went into the fight ranked number 14 by the IBF at cruiserweight.

Ilunga Makabu was ranked number 1 by the WBC and 12 by the WBO in the 200lb division.

Papin vs Makabu form

Ilunga Makabu had stopped 4 of his last 5 opponents.

In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had beat Dmitry Kudryashov on 16th June 2019 by technical knockout in the 5th round at KRK “Uralets”, Ekaterinburg, Russia.

Previous to that, he had beat Taylor Mabika on 25th August 2018 by technical knockout in the 5th round at Grand Hôtel de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic Of The Congo.

Going into that contest, he had been beaten by Tony Bellew on 29th May 2016 by technical knockout in the 3rd round in their WBC World Cruiserweight championship fight at Goodison Park Stadium, Liverpool, United Kingdom.

Before that, he had won against Thabiso Mchunu on 16th May 2015 by knockout in the 11th round at International Convention Centre, Durban, South Africa.

He had beat Tamas Bajzath on 5th December 2014 by technical knockout in the 3rd round at Centre Sportif Obercorn, Differdange, Luxembourg.

Activity check

Makabu's last 5 fights had come over a period of 8 years, 1 month and 26 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 1 year, 7 months and 18 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 27 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 5.4 rounds on average.

What time did Papin vs Makabu start?

The fighters were expected to ringwalk at around 5:00 PM UTC at Traktor Sport Palace, Chelyabinsk, Russia, which was 1:00 PM EST or 10:00 AM PST on the West Coast of America, or 6:00 PM BST in the UK.

Who broadcast Papin vs Makabu?

Papin vs Makabu was broadcast on BT Sport 2 in the UK, while the fight was broadcast in the United States by ESPN.

What were the odds on Papin vs Makabu?

Aleksei Papin was a 1/1 (+100) underdog going into the contest, while Ilunga Makabu made his way into the ring at 3/4 (-130) with oddsmakers.