Superbon vs. Chingiz Allazov: Striking Against the Fury

Collage by Timothy Wheaton.

It is a rare treat for followers of combat sports to get a bout between two fighters who are in their prime and at the top of their careers. Superbon and Chingiz Allzov, number one and two Pound-for-Pound kickboxers, battling for the ONE Featherweight World Title represents just that.

The Thai-born Superbon Singha Mawynn is the reigning champion who may be carving a place for himself among the all-time greats in kickboxing history. With impressive wins over Marat Grigorian, Giorgio Petrosyan, and Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong, he is creating a strong legacy.

His former training partner, Chingiz Allazov, is coming for the crown. This Belarusian-Azerbaijani fighter is fresh off of capturing the ONE Featherweight Grand Prix Championship to add alongside his K-1 Grand Prix Title.

Superbon: Distance Management Master

A student of the all-time great Buakaw, Superbon is a great kicker. While it’s easy to praise the power of his kicks, his real forte is to maintain distance with them.

As any fundamentally-sound fighter, Superbon has layers of defense on the feet. The first layer is to maintain distance with strong teeps. Against either orthodox or southpaw strikers, he will use both rear and front teeps with great eloquence.

The second layer of his defense are his knees to the body. If a fighter is moving in on him, he will collapse distance rapidly into clinching range and fire a knee into the abdomen. This works very well against opponents seeking to pressure you.

As a defense-focused fighter, Superbon will land the knee and circle away from the opponent’s power side. His last layer of defense is his double forearm guard. Due to the way Superbon uses his high guard, Superbon notably gives up a lot of opportunities to land uppercuts to his opponent.

Superbon’s discipline is what so far has kept him a world champion. He will enter fights with specific game plans and execute them to a tee. He recognizes his opponent’s strengths and works to neutralize them. Importantly, he avoids getting caught in lengthy firefight exchanges.

Chingiz Allazov: Striking Fury 

Chingiz Allazov is one of the most fun fighters to watch in all of combat sports as he fights at a hectic pace applies consistent pressure to his opponents. Allazov strikes with fury from many different angles. With frequent stance switches, he will deliver wide hooks, straights, uppercuts, and body punches, which will often be in combination with head kicks or low kicks.

Because he strikes with such unpredictable variance, he has developed a knack for hiding his head kicks behind a flurry of punches. With impressive fluidity and speed his head kick is a constant threat.

To match the volume and fluidity of his strikes, Allazov’s guard can be desribed as very active. For comparison Marat Grigorian was continuously wary of Superbon’s head kick so he kept his gloves glued to his head. This opened a route to his body, which Superbon exploited with tons of teeps, as seen in the previous section.

Allazov’s guard is much more flexible and he uses head movement, pull counters, or parries, to evade strikes and supplement his defense and find opportunities to counter. In exchanges, he is at his most dangerous. Firefights against game opponents is where he excels. Allazov focuses on striking first and last, definitively winning fights exchange by exchange. 

At close range, he has a powerful uppercut that often hits true. Former GLORY Kickboxing Champion Sittichai attempted to use a knee strike to close the distance, and Allazov’s uppercut counter here nearly dropped him.

Against kick-focused fighters, Allazov will attack the standing leg. Unfortunately life is not a Wuxia film, and therefore whenever someone kicks, one leg has to remain planted on the ground. Allazov will often counter by attacking that leg. He is also a fan of catching kicks, especially aimed at his body, and retaliating with flurries.

Superbon vs. Chingiz Allazov

Superbon and Chingiz Allazov are former training partners. It is not entirely clear how close they were in the gym or if it will affect their fight. This is an unknown factor — that said, fights between athletes who know each other well tend to take on unexpected characteristics.

The known factors in this match: Superbon must avoid getting caught in exchanges. In the clinch, the uppercut may become a potent weapon for Chingiz in this bout. Superbon is going to be looking to maintain distance and control, but make no mistake: his excellence at range does not mean he’s impotent in mid-range exchanges. Allazov will try to work out openings with probing jabs, pace and pressure, however that could prove to be a tall task with Superbon’s ability to play with distance, staying all the way in or all the way out, throwing powerful and accurate kicks all the while. In the meantime, Allazov’s potency, speed and enthusiasm in firefights make the prospect of spending too much time in the kitchen an intimidating proposition for Superbon.

After waiting nearly a year, kickboxing fans will finally get the Superbon vs. Chingiz Allazov showdown we have been demanding. This fight is booked for ONE Fight Night 6 on January 13.