Muhammadkhuja Iskandarovich Yaqubov (born 31 March 1995) is a Tajikistani professional boxer who has held the WBC International super-featherweight title since 2018.
Yaqubov turned professional in late 2015, signing a deal with RCC Boxing Promotions.[2] He soon made his debut on 12 December of that year, defeating fellow debutant Vladimir Terekhov in Saint Petersburg.[3] After three more victories he received his first title shot on 15 November 2016, and defeated Nikolai Buzolin by eighth-round technical knockout (TKO) to win the WBC–ABCO Continental lightweight title.[4] He retained it three months later against veteran Yogli Herrera by way of unanimous decision (UD).[5] In his next fight he picked up the vacant WBO Youth lightweight title; his opponent Feruzbek Yuldashev didn't answer the bell for the fifth round due to injury.[6] Two months later he successfully defended it, scoring three knockdowns en route to a first-round TKO of Japanese challenger Daiki Ichikawa.[6]
On 10 February 2018, Yaqubov defeated young prospect Mark Urvanov by UD in Yekaterinburg, adding the WBA Continental and IBF Baltic super-featherweight titles to his résumé.[4] He won the vacant WBC International super-featherweight title a few months after that, stopping Víctor Alejandro Zúñiga in the first round with a shot to the solar plexus on 19 August.[7] In his first defense of the WBC International belt in February 2019, he decisioned Emanuel López at the KRK Uralets.[8] He also outpointed NABF champ Abraham Montoya and former world champ Tomás Rojas in subsequent title bouts.[9][10] Yaqubov made his fourth WBC International title defense against Lunga Sitemela on 27 March 2021, whom he beat by unanimous decision.[11]
Yaubov faced O'Shaquie Foster in a WBC title eliminator on 18 March 2022, on the undercard of the Sunny Edwards and Muhammad Waseem IBF title bout.[12] He lost the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 118–109, 117–110 and 117–110.[13] Yaqubov rebounded from the first loss of his professional career with a unanimous decision victory over Carlos Daniel Cordoba on 11 September 2022, and a knockout of Javokhirbek Karimov on April 28, 2023.[14]