By Alexey Sukachev

Business tycoon Andrey Ryabinskiy and his World of Boxing promotional outfit will make it to the books by arranging the best fight card in Russian fistic history. A stacked event is presented later this evening at Basket-Hall Arena in Kazan, Russia, featuring many of the best fighters this part of the world has to offer.

Unsurprisingly, it falls on November 4, the Day of Russian National Unity – a remarkable date for the best promoter to organize his best fight card. Less conventional is the choice of venue – a newly built TatNeft Ice Arena in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, rather than any arenas in the capital.

Shows like this have become the norm in recent years, but it wasn’t always like this. In fact, it comes amidst a boxing boom in Russia.

One year ago marked the 25th anniversary of the first sanctioned fight card in Moscow, which was held at the Dynamo Basket Hall in Moscow in what was still the USSR back on August 20, 1989. The milestone went largely unnoticed among Russian fight fans and local boxing community.

Nothing indicated prizefighting would be of any success in the Soviet Union (and later new states formed after its dissolution). Moreover, for 17 years after the start a proof was there that professional boxing did not belong to one of the hotbeds of amateur fighting.

The only championship bout to land in Russia, was a specific promotional event, co-organized in July 1993 by Mikhail Sorin and Enrique Soria (no link between those two) with IBF cruiserweight champion Al Cole making a historical defense of his title against Glenn McCrory.

It was a one-day hit, hardly more than that.

There were no prerequisites for success. For years, Russia’s only world champions were expatriates:

• Flyweight ruler Yuri Arbachakov, born in Russia but based out of Tokyo, Japan;

• Undisputed super lightweight king Kostya Tszyu, also born in Russia but who lived in Australia and was even known as “Thunder From Down Under”

• Lesser known welterweight beltholder Akhmed Kotiev, who was born and raised in Russia but fought out of Germany for the majority of his pro career in the late 1990s

Widely (or at least mildly) popular abroad, they failed to build up some following in Mother Russia and never really tried to, concentrating solely on their new careers in new places.

Changes were induced in early 2000’s. In 2005 – for the first time in seven years - a new name emerged as Roman Karmazin topped Kassim Ouma to become the IBF light middleweight beltholder. At year’s end, yet another name made headlines when Nikolay Valuev dethroned John Ruiz for a heavyweight belt.

It was an avalanche ever since, and the moment to celebrate a major title fight was rapidly approaching.

One who crossed the historical line was young promoter Yuri Fedorov, who with the assistance of Vladimir Hryunov brought back one of the iconic figures for Russian boxing – a newly crowned WBC heavyweight king Oleg Maskaev, who had just scored a major upset win over Hasim Rahman.

Maskaev’s clash against Peter Ohello, a Japan-based Ugandan, which took place on Dec. 10, 2006 was forgettable and the same should have been said of its undercard. However, it took Fedorov less than a year to make solid adjustments, and his next show on October 13, 2007 was both major success and a sky-high bar for those willing to repeat the trick.

The show was a breakthrough in more than one way. It was the first time a title doubleheader was staged in Russia; the first time a true (albeit faded) superstar hit the capital (Evander Holyfield, who dropped a 12-round decision to then-unbeaten heavyweight titlist Sultan Ibragimov), and the first time when the Russian (Dmitry Kirillov) captured a piece of world title while fighting at home.

Expectations of continuation were exceptional right after that, but 2008/2009 world financial crisis resulted in a brief but severe cut-off of a majority of big-time activities in Russia, not excluding the pugilism. For almost three years, there was nothing to talk about but at the very same time, Russian fighters continued to strive abroad.

A comeback was just a matter of time.

Entering the picture first were the likes of Kirill Pchelnikov (three title fights for Dmitry Pirog in 2011/2012) and Vladimir Hryunov, who capitalized on overaged icons like Roy Jones Jr. or James Toney.

Both did their best but both failed to achieve the same level of acceptance as Fedorov. It should have taken a bigger figure to re-configure the Russian fight scene, and this figure emerged in late 2012 in Ryabinskiy, a mortgage and development tycoon and a vivid follower of the sport.

Ryabinksiy kicked off his World of Boxing promotional company with a bang, putting up an eye-opening amount of more than 23 million USD to snatch a long-awaited heavyweight showdown between unified champion Wladimir Klitschko and his #1-rated mandatory Alexander Povetkin. In winning the purse bid, he was able to stage the event in Moscow. 

Honestly enough, Ryabinskiy has never said it was a business move but more an inner desire and dictate of his heart. The event itself proved to be a disaster, the only positive moment being a major step-up in class, successfully accomplished by Grigoriy Drozd in a surprisingly solid late-round stoppage of Mateusz Masternak.

Still, it proved to be a worthwhile – if not costly – investment into the future success of boxing in Russia.

The two years that followed were very different for World of Boxing, a new banner promoted by Ryabinskiy and his minions. Last year jumped off to a rough start – especially when Guillermo Jones was caught positive on illegal substances and his rematch versus Denis Lebedev was scratched for good.

However, a very strong second half came with:

• A Russian/Polish doubleheader in September featuring Lebedev and Drodz in cruiserweight title fight wins versus Pawel Kolodziej and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, respectively;

• The heavyweight Fight of the Year candidate in Povetkin’s wild 10th round knockout of Carlos Takam in October

• Former 140 lb. champ Ruslan Provodnikov’s homecoming in November

The spring of 2015 was as successful as the end of 2014, quickly positioning Ryabinskiy as the best Russian promoter.

Ever.

Tonight, Ryabinskiy stages a massive event, one that can easily be compared to any American programming like HBO World Championship Boxing.

There are no recognized divisional champions, taking part in the event but a number of major or minor title owners with unprecedented (for Russia) eight title bouts, packed within an evening.

There’s a temptation to place heavyweight star Povetkin (29-1, 21 KOs, #1 TBRB/BoxingScene.com) as a real leader of the pack and this event’s headliner. That very temptation is also supported by casual media in Russia.

This is wrong.

The fight card is indeed crowned by a tripleheader, consisting of two major title fights and a semi-important heavyweight attraction. Povetkin takes part in the least meaningful fight of that trio.

His opponent – giant Pole Mariusz Wach (31-1, 17 KOs) – is a second-tier opponent and a slight step back in comparison with both Mike Perez and Carlos Takam. Povetkin is gunning for a shot at Deontay Wilder, and, as parties struggle hard to negotiate the deal, the Russian Olympic champion chooses to stay active.

In the meantime, Wach can punch, can take a punch and looks no worse than Wilder’s latest optional challengers in Eric Molina and Johann Duhaupas. Yet, Povetkin is recalled first when speaking of the event – the star power of the sport’s most prestigious division is in clear effect here.

What makes this card a true tripleheader is a pair of very solid title fights. The most intriguing (both on paper and in reality) match-up is a classic encounter between a feather-fisted pure boxer Cesar Rene Cuenca (47-0, 2 KOs) and big-time Russian knockout artist Eduard Troyanovsky (22-0, 19 KOs) for both the Argentinean’s IBF and the Russian’s IBO light welterweight belts. Making it tougher for both is the last chance feeling as both are well into their 30’s and boast little time left for major achievements.

Another recognized titleholder and TBRB #2 Lebedev (27-2, 20 KOs) will risk his title against once highly touted prospect Lateef Kayode (21-0, 16 KOs), whose career has stagnated recently despite having an ideal record.

A trio of the fights would have been enough to provide fans with what they needed but WoB hasn’t stopped at the station and continued to drive it to the final destination. The reason for that is the fact that this show will be the only one in the fall for Ryabinskiy and his team, which means they simply NEED to make it big on order for all of their stellar protégés to get enough of fight dates in 2015.

This leads us to another pair of bouts, which makes a good card exemplary.

To get to the next level some extra intrigue and adrenaline is needed, and that is exactly what cruiserweights Rakhim Chakhkiev (24-1, 18 KOs) and Dmitry Kudryashov (18-0, 18 KOs) bring to the table but from various directions.

TBRB #6 Chakhkiev will be in tough against former interim champion Ola Afolabi (21-4-4, 10 KOs). Chakhkiev looked ordinary against Junior Anthony Wright and Jackson Junior and very vulnerable against little-relevant Brazilian Hamilton Ventura, who dropped him twice en route to a very close loss to Chakhkiev less than a month and a half ago.

In the oppsosite corner is TBRB #7 Afolabi, who knows exactly what to do with flawed fighters as his memorable battle with Enzo Maccarinelli can kindly remind us.

As for Kudryashov, the bruising cruiserweight with a perfect knockout-to-win ratio is matched up against an almost equally powerful but also vulnerable Olanrewaju Durodola (21-2, 19 KOs).

Both fights can easily been viewed as hidden headliners of an already saturated card. Yet still the story doesn’t end here.

There will also be four more fights, including a female title fight (and a rematch of a controversial draw a year ago). But the spotlight in the deep undercard will be placed on light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol (4-0, 4KOs). He is less known than his fellow prospects Artur Beterbiev and Egor Mekhontsev but was regarded as a bigger talent at one point of his career. He will be matched against a fighter, known to create difficulties for the Russian fighters – Jackson Junior (19-4, 17 KOs).

Now there’s finally an end. The most impressive fact of this card is that it was almost finalized at the start of the fall, showing an approach and diligence needed to build-up a historical night of boxing. Now diligence and readiness are required from the fans (both locally and worldwide) to witness it and to become part of the show, which they are extremely well advised not to miss.

TOP 5 BEST RUSSIAN CARDS

2007, October 13, Moscow
Promoter: Yuri Fedorov
Headliners: Sultan Ibragimov UD 12 Evander Holyfield, Dmitry Kirillov UD 12 Jose Navarro
Other notables: Khabib Allakhverdiev, Vadim Tokarev, Dawid Kostecki

2013, October 5, Moscow
Promoter: Andrey Ryabinskiy / Vladimir Hryunov
Headliners: Wladimir Klitschko UD 12 Alexander Povetkin
Other notables: Grigoriy Drozd vs. Mateusz Masternak, Ruslan Chagaev, Rakhim Chakhkiev

2014, September 27, Moscow
Promoter: World of Boxing
Headliners: Grigoriy Drozd UD 12 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Denis Lebedev KO 2 Pawel Kolodziej
Other notables: Sergey Lipinets

2013, May 17, Moscow
Promoter: Vladimir Hryunov
Headliners: Guillermo Jones KO 11 Denis Lebedev
Other notables: Alexander Povetkin TKO 3 Andrzej Wawrzyk, Eduard Troyanovski, Dmitry Chudinov

2014, October 24, Moscow
Promoter: World of Boxing
Headliners: Alexander Povetkin KO 10 Carlos Takam
Other notables: Rakhim Chakhkiev, Eduard Troyanovskiy, Jose Alfaro, Manuel Charr