{"id":586170,"date":"2026-04-06T16:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/586170\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T16:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:24:10","slug":"mum-i-have-to-go-to-moscow-as-i-am-fighting-a-bear-makhmudov-on-russias-grizzlies-god-and-tyson-fury-boxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/586170\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mum, I have to go to Moscow as I am fighting a bear\u2019: Makhmudov on Russia\u2019s grizzlies, God and Tyson Fury | Boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis guy is the professor,\u201d Arslanbek Makhmudov says of Tyson Fury as he looks forward politely to their fight on Saturday night at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. There is none of the usual bluster and malice of heavyweight boxing as the huge Russian from Dagestan shows considerable respect for the former world champion who is making yet another comeback<\/a> to the ring.<\/p>\n

\u201cTyson Fury is the professor of mind and boxing,\u201d Makhmudov continues in his functional but effective English. \u201cA lot of boxing is mental and he is a master. But boxing is also spiritual. I am going to be strong, spiritual and smart. You can say this is a war between mental and spiritual and we\u2019ll see who is more successful. Inshallah it is spiritual.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 6ft 5\u00bdin Makhmudov, who is expected to weigh in at about 270lb against Fury, will also bring real physicality and power to the ring. Nineteen of his 21 victories have ended in a stoppage and he can clearly hit hard enough to test Fury, who, for all his resilience and toughness, has been knocked down seven times in his professional career. Fury always gets up but he has not been quite the same fighter since Deontay Wilder knocked him down four times in two\u00a0savage\u00a0bouts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fury is normally keen to insult his opponents but, so far, he has echoed Makhmudov\u2019s respectful tone. \u201cI don\u2019t know why but he has been very friendly,\u201d the 36\u2011year\u2011old Makhmudov says of Fury. \u201cI\u00a0appreciate it because the young generation look at us as a good example. He is 38 [in August]. It\u2019s not like we are 25. We are fathers and that\u2019s why he agree with me\u00a0\u2013\u00a0we can sell this fight without bad stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makhmudov is amiable and cheerful when I ask what Fury still does best in the ring. \u201cHis box IQ is very high. When he need to change the fight he know how to do it. He showed it when he beat Wladimir Klitschko [to become world champion for the first time in 2015<\/a>] and Wilder in some crazy fights. So this guy, he is a legend, one of the best heavyweights in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018We can sell this fight without bad stuff\u2019: Tyson Fury and Arslanbek Makhmudov share a joke in February\u2019s announcement of Saturday\u2019s fight. Photograph: Harry Murphy\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Asked about his opponent\u2019s vulnerabilities, Makhmudov again opts for diplomacy. \u201cThat\u2019s why we have this fight \u2013 to find his weaknesses and then beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makhmudov is just as positive when remembering his only other previous visit to England \u2013 for his dominant points victory over Dave Allen last October: \u201cSheffield was very nice, with very friendly people. I love England.\u201d<\/p>\n

But surely he felt a little lonely as almost everyone in the partisan crowd seemed to be cheering on Allen? \u201cNo. When I go in the ring I hear this crowd and I say to myself:\u00a0\u2018Listen, these 10,000 are against you. But if my God is with me they cannot do nothing to me.\u2019 This time [against Fury] I will go with my God again.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 60,000 pro-Fury crowd is expected but Makhmudov remains sanguine. \u201cThere is nothing they can do when you understand this. If my God is with me then 60,000 don\u2019t matter. It\u2019s nothing. If God is with you it\u2019s a real power and a beautiful power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will he pray before walking to the ring? \u201cI pray all the time and not just before the fight. I pray five times in the day and ask him for all the success. I don\u2019t worry because his plan is always best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makhmudov has not had an easy life. \u201cI was born in the Soviet Union and this became the Russian Federation. But I am from Dagestan and I remember, as a kid, a hard time. There was war in Chechenya and I remember people taken to the cemetery. We had no money. My father was a bus driver. He work for one year but he had no salary because we had no government that works. My mother was a schoolteacher, and she also wasn\u2019t receiving a salary. But after my parents make a pharmacy business our life became much better. It was a very happy life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boxer and his family now live in Canada but does he think of himself as being Russian? \u201cIn the west, in Canada and the USA, they call it Russia. But we still see Dagestan. So I am Dagestani, of course. I\u2019m always from Dagestan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine years ago, when he was 27, Makhmudov moved to Montreal. \u201cSome managers and coaches invited me. I had other invitations to Germany, Japan and the USA. But I like Canada. It was still bad at the start because I had zero English and the culture was different. But you adapt and it was good I bring my wife and kids. Now my daughter is 11, my son is 10 and the other daughter is four. The kids go to school. They speak French.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makhmudov laughs in delight when celebrating his cosmopolitan children before becoming serious after he is asked if he will always live in Canada. \u201cI don\u2019t know. We will see. I have house here, I have car here, the kids\u2019 school, a very good school, is here. Everything good is here. But of course my wife and kids miss Dagestan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makhmudov does pad work with his trainer Samuel Decarie in Montreal, which he has called home since 2017. Photograph: Christinne Muschi\/AP<\/p>\n

He has lost two fights, but he offers an excuse for his defeat in December 2023 against Agit Kabayel: \u201cIn the fifth round I broke my hand in two places. I got operation after the fight. I didn\u2019t realise that when it broke, I didn\u2019t feel pain because I feel numb in my hand. I try [to] punch but my head said: \u2018No punch.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Makhmudov, more surprisingly, also lost to Guido Vianello in August 2024 but he sounds philosophical when asked about that fight. \u201cWhat happened? Many time[s] I was hit in my face. It was [swollen] and I couldn\u2019t see. The ref stopped it. But it\u2019s okay. They say everything happens for a reason. If I lose, this means I need to lose. I deserve that. I know I have to fix some stuff, improve some stuff, work more. There is no time to\u00a0be\u00a0sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

His family would like him to give up boxing but the big man is amused when I say they must have worried far more when they saw video footage of him fighting a bear. \u201cIt was in Russia. Moscow. Maybe one and [a] half year ago. I told my wife but my mother couldn\u2019t understand. I said: \u2018Listen, Mum, I have to go to Moscow as I am fighting a bear.\u2019 My mother did not understand. She think I said I just go for meeting. But when she see the video<\/a> she said: \u2018Are you crazy? Why you do that? You will never see your kids again if you do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he often grapple with bears? \u201cNo. This is the only time. Not again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makhmudov looks horrified when I ask if he enjoyed the surreal experience. \u201cNo, no. It was very terrible to be honest. One of my friends make me an offer [to fight the bear]. He said: \u2018Do you want to make crazy stuff?\u2019 I said: \u2018OK, I\u00a0cannot refuse.\u2019 But I will never do it again. The bear tried to bite me and it was a good thing that never\u00a0happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing Fury, after fighting a bear, will seem simple in comparison. \u201cExactly,\u201d Makhmudov says with a relieved smile. \u201cI don\u2019t know how I will beat [Fury] but of course I believe I will win. I invest a lot of my time [in training] and I believe this is a good fight for me. I will do everything to win, inshallah, so that\u2019s why you cannot miss\u00a0this\u00a0fight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis guy is the professor,\u201d Arslanbek Makhmudov says of Tyson Fury as he looks forward politely to their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-586170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}