Yan Zak to Face Veteran Mukhiddin Rajapbaev

Cruiserweight Yan Zak is scheduled to face Mukhiddin Rajapbaev on Saturday at New Sports Palace in Tbilisi, Georgia. Rajapbaev is a veteran of 28 fights and will look for an early knockout.

Zak- a 25 year old from Ashdod, Israel- dominated his pro debut earlier this month when he stopped Darshan Singh in the first round on May 3. Zak is a boxer-puncher with a distinguished amateur pedigree. He's in tough in his second fight against a 17-year pro.

Rajapbaev is a 37 year old from Tashkent, Uzbekistan with a record of 12-15-1 (8 KOs). He has been stopped 12 times. Rajapbeav has basically had two careers. He fought as a middleweight and super middleweight with a clean face and a hair carved in the shape of a horse shoe before the covid pandemic. During this stage, he had a winning record. His best win came in 2012 against Konstyantyn Rovenskyy, who was 17-0-2 when they faced. Rajpbaev scored knockdowns in the third and seventh rounds, catching the towel from Rovenskyy's corner while finishing the second one. A disputed draw against Maksym Bursak in 2018 represented another strong performance. Bursak constantly held as Rajapbaev marked up the left side of his face with overhand rights.

The second part of Rajapbaev's career has taken place after covid. He gained 25 pounds and has fought as an undersized cruiserweight and heavyweight. Sporting a clean-shaved head, bushy beard, and a dad bod, the Uzbek hasn't won a fight at the heavier weights. In fact, his last win came back in 2018, a first round KO of Bobur Alimov after Rajapbaev had been rocked early.

Rajapbaev, who has fought in front of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, starts each fight loading up on looping power shots around the opponent's guard. He shows the left to land the overhand right, which has true power behind it. He used that right against Yedil Kozhamberdiyev in 2020, putting down his Kazakh foe early in the fight. Rajapbaev controlled the first three rounds, and deserved another knockdown in the third that was ruled a slip, but Kozhamberdiev came back in the forth to pound the fight out of the Uzbek.

A month ago, Rajapbaev lost by way of "Russian Retirement," a phenomenon in Russia where the B-side wins a round and then promptly quits during the rest period with a mysterious injury. After quitting following a successful first round against the enormous Takhir Mamedov on April 24, Rajapbaev raced to the middle of the ring and shadowboxed for a few moments.

Zak will need to be carful in the early moments against Rajapbaev. He needs to be wary of the right and not fall for the decoy left. Zak has a good jab, which is effective against Rajapbaev. The native of Uzbekistan is a rough guy who has been known to land rabbit punches. He walks forward and throws from awkward angles but leaves himself square, which opens him up for counters. He also goes to body.

It will a good test early in Zak's pro career. This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

Joshua Feldman to Face Siphiwe Ntombela

Junior middleweight Joshua Feldman is scheduled to face veteran Siphiwe Ntombela on May 24 at Big Top Arena in Carnival City, Guateng, South Africa. Ntombela is the right opponent for Feldman at this stage of the 20 year old's career.

Feldman, a native of Cape Town, is 6-0 with 3 KOs. He last fought back in February against Jonas Senga, the toughest test of Feldman's career to date. The fight was the first time he had gone as many as six rounds. A southpaw, Feldman is a developing a reputation as a skilled and athletic boxer. He can bang when necessary and has a good chin but is at his best when he can control the action from the outside.

Ntombela is a 32 year old from the coal mining town of Newcastle in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal. A squat, muscular welterweight, he doesn't have the best record at 4-11 (3 KOs) and has been stopped in 8 of his 11 losses. But he is considerably better than his record suggests. He has often been in tough as the B-side with eight of his losses coming against fighters with a winning record. He has also done well in fights he ultimately lost by KO.

Ntombela began his pro career in 2017 and was 3-2 before he racked up a string of losses. His knockout losses have almost all come late fights. He has shown an ability to withstand trouble early, but his punch resistance wanes as the fight progresses. Against Lybon Ntshani, a fight that Feldman's trainer Colin Nathan broadcasted, Ntombela was rocked in the first, dominated the next few rounds until a left hook in the fifth scrambled his senses and the fight was mercifully stopped.

Ntombela took his next fight, against Jacques Mavud, on short notice and was out of shape, spending much of the fight moving on the perimeter until body shots by Mavud ended the fight in the fifth. He next fought Wassim Chellan by boxing and moving. He survived a third round knockdown and finished the six-round fight strong, but lost by unanimous decision.

In 2023, Feldman and his friend and fellow boxer Doron Zinman watched from the balcony at Booysens Boxing Club as Ntombela pressed the action against a tall, slender southpaw named Aaron Muteba. Muteba countered well, and got the knockout in the fourth round with an uppercut which he set up with lots of well-placed body shots. Last year, Ntombela was competitive against prospect Almighty Creed Moyo in several rounds. Moyo, who had Nathan in his corner, went to the body and eventually wore down the journeyman, setting up a head shot for the knockout.

Ntombela has average handspeed and good power. Although the results suggest otherwise, he has improved a lot in recent fights. He used to circle into the opponent's backhand, but his movement is now less predictable. He doesn't throw many jabs and lunges when he does let it go, but he seems to have mostly corrected a flaw where his right hand moved away from his face as he jabbed. He likes to use the left hook and has a powerful overhand right.

Feldman, who was convinced to work with strength and conditioning coach Ignatius Loubser for this camp by Zinman, sparred with Boyd Allen. Of Ntombela, Feldman told SA Boxing Talk, "He's a come-forward fighter. You could call him a journeyman, but I know he's going to be game and comes to fight."

Though he hasn't always done so, Ntombela will likely press forward, so Feldman could counter and dig to the body. The uppercut may be the ticket as Ntombela has a bad habit of bringing his head in front of his lead foot.

"I want to make a statement this fight," Feldman said, "and these guys, even though they might be tough, they're not on my level. I feel like once I stop this guy, I'm going to be ready for an eight-rounder and soon to be a ten-rounder."

Feldman-Notmbela is scheduled for six rounds.

Doron Zinman to Face Ronaldo Sibisi

Featherweight Doron Zinman is scheduled to face Ronaldo Sibisi at Big Top Arena in Carnival City, Guateng, South Africa. The tournament is promoted by Boxing 5 Promotions.

Zinman is a 20 year old from Cape Town, South Africa. He's 2-0 with one KO. Nicknamed "Buzzsaw," Zinman has a come-forward style and a dangerous right hand. The fight against Sibisi, a native of Guateng, will mark the third time in a row Zinman will face a debutant.

Facing a debutant can be challenging, because they can be unpredictable. Sometimes debuting fighters don't have the proper experience to compete, but Zinman's first two opponents were quite talented B-sides for novices. Doron was particularly impressive in his last fight, a first round TKO victory over Nhlakhanipho Phungula in February. 

Zinman-Sibisi is scheduled for four rounds.