The protégé of Eye of the Tiger Management Imam Khataev suffered his first defeat with professionals on Saturday evening, losing by shared decision of judges before David Morrell, in New York.
Two judges delivered cards of 95-94 while a judge delivered a 96-93 card in favor of Morrell (12-1, 9 K.-O.), which raised the ire of several amateurs at the Louis-Armstrong stadium as well as the analyst of the fight on Dazn.
“I think Khataev deserved the guys better,” he said after the announcement of the result. It was a tight fight, but I think the judges were wrong on this. »»
Khataev (10-1, 9 K.-O.) touched the target 129 times, against 97 for his opponent. He also sent Morrell to the carpet thanks to a solid right to the fifth round.
It was a first American soil fight for Khataev, who fought three times at the Montreal Casino and once at the Videotron Center in Quebec.
The fight almost did not take place, since Khataev Was splashed by a doping case earlier this week.
The International Anti -Doping Agency (ITA) said on Tuesday that the Australian of Russian origin, bronze medalist in the under 81 kg at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, underwent a positive anti -doping test on April 9, 2024 and that it was suspended for two years, from June 25, 2025.
By press release, EotTM, which has been associated with Khataev since August 2023, had then declared that this result “was completely unexpected and deeply worrying for imam”, which “categorically denies having intentionally or knowing any prohibited substance and affirms that the only plausible explanation for this positive result is food contamination”.
The boxer believes that his diet rich in protein would have influenced the test result, “underwent shortly after the nocturnal meal of breaking the fast during the month of Ramadan”.
