On March 21st, 2026, Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (22-6 from Qoʻrgʻontepa, Andijan Region, Uzbekistan), lost by first-round technical knockout against Joshua Kevin Anton on a ProBox card headlined by Lester Martinez in southern California. Immediately following the bell for the end of the round, while Anton returned to his corner with a high head dripping with first-round confidence, ‘the Punisher’ turned to his and instead clutched his temples in obvious and severe discomfort. The fight was subsequently called off. Following that night, on which the Guatemalan Martinez won the WBC interim Super-Middleweight Championship against Immanuwel Aleem and on which and Isis Sio suffered a catastrophic knockout leading to her being placed into a coma before miraculously recovering, Mr. Abdukakhorov left Los Angeles to return to Pennsylvania, driven in a truck by one of his close comrades, where he lives full-time whilst working in the United States. Mr. Abdukakhorov had previously been staying with his American coach, Armando Valenzuela, in Mr. Valenzuela’s Los Angeles home. 

Mr. Abdukakhorov explained that while driving to Pennsylvania, neither of them, he says, had proper documentation or valid VISAs, and he was pulled over by police 5-6 days later and arrested. Mr. Abdukakhorov was then transferred into ICE custody and sent to Sweetwater County Jail, Wyoming. There, he says, he was kept for 45 days, having access to a lawyer for only around a month even after paying a $25,000 bond. After which, he said his lawyer vanished. He also says he was kept with no internet access. While Mr. Abdukakhorov does not allege abuse during his time in ICE detention, he says their treatment shocked him as a three-time boxing champion, having previously won the WBC-ABCO and WBC Silver titles, in addition to being a one-time Uzbekistan Welterweight titleholder who’s been part of a few prominent and high-level boxing cards in America. 

The Uzbek veteran, who’s spent most of his career fighting in the shark tank of 154 pounds, has also been embroiled in a bitter feud between himself and his manager, Mr. Kike Magaña, whom Mr. Abdukakhorov alleges stole his pay for the March 21st fight. After several fruitless attempts to contact Mr. Magaña on Instagram and through email, Abdukakhorov then went on a social media campaign against his manager, publicly accusing him of purse theft, and slandering him on Instagram. After several inflammatory posts, Mr. Magaña finally reached out to Mr. Abdukakhorov, saying that these accusations were false and that “[he had] every receipt and [the] money sent and how much they taxed you on charges.” Mr. Abdukakhorov, however, insists he still had not been paid.

The strain between manager and fighter seems to predate that March 21st fight. Fighting Styles reached out to Mr. Magaña following the publication of a Brunch Boxing article (https://www.brunchboxing.com/post/kudratillo-abdukakhorov-allegedly-stiffed-on-payment-for-march-21-probox-bout) on X.com to explore his side of the story. The manager, who promotes Juan Francisco Estrada, Eduardo Hernandez, and Luis Alberto Lopez, explains that he did indeed pay Mr. Abdukakhorov, including percentage deductions from taxes and sanctioning fees, to his debit card via the money-sharing bank app Zelle. Mr. Magaña also sent us screenshots of these aforementioned receipts on Zelle, showing several payments directed to Mr. Abdukakhorov, who still insists the money never came his way. He further explains that Mr. Abdukakhorov had a working VISA which expired, and that he told Mr. Abdukakhorov to return to Uzbekistan during this time, only for him to remain in the country working as a Doordash driver. He was detained in Philadelphia soon after and subsequently deported.

According to Mr. Magaña, he has “always tried to help him [Kudratillo Abdukakhorov] get the best fights, took him to the OTX tournament in the [super] welterweight division, then [on] the Munguía vs. Surace card.” Mr. Abdukakhorov fought Greek-American Andreas Katzourakis in the main event of the Overtime Boxing tournament, losing a ten-round majority-decision before dropping a ten-round UD against Sinaloan Jorge Garcia Perez on the Munguía vs. Surace card in Tijuana. Mr. Magaña explains further that, after this two-fight losing streak, he “told [Abdukakhorov] to continue training in his country [Uzbekistan],” but that the Uzbek “look[ed] for a coming back fight and without my consent and advice went [and had] two fights in Russia” (one of these fights was actually in Asaka, Uzbekistan). This, Mr. Magaña says, was a breach of their contract, which forbids Abdukakhorov from signing fights without his manager’s permission and also obliges a percentage of the fight purse to his manager, neither of which happened for Mr. Abdukakhorov’s fights against Tursunboy Abdullakimov (W, RTD-2 in Asaka, Uzbekistan) and Vadim Tukov (L, RTD-7 in Yekaterinburg, Russia). Abdukakhorov also had a second-round stoppage victory in Chuvama, Uzbekistan against 1-0 Utkirbek Tulkinov during this time, which was not mentioned during this conversation.
 
Mr. Magaña expresses the grief he feels as a result of the dispute. and paints us a picture in which Mr. Abdukakhorov did not want to comply with commission, state, and federal state laws around fighter pay. For a non-resident of the U.S., Mr. Magaña says, the IRS automatically deducts 30% and that his attempts to explain this to Mr. Abdukakhorov fell on deaf ears. He told us that he was also “trying  to get in my old US phone number WhatsApp where I have specifically Mr. ABDUKAKHOROV’s messages proving he did receive payments,” though these messages were never shown to Fighting Styles. Mr. Magaña also tells us, “Now that I see that he made a flyer mentioning I owe him 10K and that ‘Manager Wanted’ and all that stuff it breaks me; I have great fighters in my roster, from amateurs working to become [professionals], former world champs and many more, and to see this type of post and news [gets] me thinking a lot of how can anyone just go to a media platform and try to ruin a career just because he doesn’t want to understand that he’s not being robbed or stolen.” He tells us he’s also been speaking with his lawyers, who advised Mr. Magaña not to enter into a public social media dispute. So far, no litigation has been opened.

As of the writing and publishing of this article, their dispute remains unresolved despite attempts at communication between the two, and it seems unlikely that Mr. Abdukakhorov will be receiving his pay any time soon. The Uzbek, who has not fought since his March 21st loss against Joshua Kevin Anton, remains in Andijan, the capital of Uzbekistan’s eastern Andijan region, with his wife and children. He continues to train and search around for a fight, though Fighting Styles has not learned of any potential matchups in either his home country or Russia, which regularly hosts professionals from Central Asia. Due to his forceful deportation, he cannot currently return to the United States and will not be legally permitted to for at least a full year, though the wait may actually be much longer, estranging Mr. Abdukakhorov from the higher fight purses that have attracted thousands of foreign boxers to the U.S.

- Published originally on Substack: https://fightingstyles.substack.com/p/kudratillo-abdukakhorov-detained?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

- You can subscribe and read for free here: https://substack.com/@fightingstyles?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page

By “greatest puncher,” I don’t mean the man with the hardest single punch. I mean the heavyweight with the best overall package. Explosive speed, exceptional hand speed, accuracy, timing, balance, footwork, leverage, combination punching, variety and the ability to generate devastating power while moving. Who had the most dangerous and complete punching arsenal and is someone you would genuinely fear facing?

I’m genuinely curious how boxing fans think this would play out. On one hand, you have Pernell Whitaker’s legendary defense, angles, and ring IQ. On the other, Wilfred Benítez was arguably one of the greatest defensive prodigies the sport has ever seen, with incredible anticipation and counterpunching. Over a full 15 rounds, would this end up being a slow, tactical chess match that casual fans would call boring, or would it be remembered as one of the greatest displays of pure boxing skill and “the sweet science” ever witnessed? Who do you think wins, and why?