By Luke Furman

WBA International middleweight champion Fedor Chudinov (17-2, 12 KOs) said that he began preparations for his July battle in the United States under the leadership of the well-known coach Abel Sanchez.

Chudinov was back in the ring on February 3 in Sochi, when he defeated Timo Laine. In his previous matches, the Russian fighter was being trained by the coach of the Russian national boxing team, Edward Kravtsov.

Chudinov has now won three fights in a row since getting stopped by George Groves in May of 2017.

Sanchez train several Eastern European fighters, including IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, WBA/IBF cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev, and lightweight contender Denis Shafikov.

"I have already started working in the training camp for the upcoming fight in July. I 've gone to prepare and gain professional experience from the best coach in the world - Abel Sanchez, work alongside Gennady Golovkin and Murat Gassiev in a friendly atmosphere," said Chudinov, whose quotation was given to RIA Novosti by way of the press service of the Russian Boxing Federation.

"During my last fight in Sochi, we spoke with Abel and agreed on my trip to his training camp. Of course I will miss my homeland very much, but this is just the necessary experience that I need, "- added the boxer who occupies a high ranked position under the WBA.

Chudinov first came on the scene back in May of 2015, when he upset division veteran Felix Sturm for the WBA title.

After making a solid defense with a win over Frank Buglioni, Chudinov returned in a rematch with Sturm in February of 2016 and lost a close and some felt controversial twelve round majority decision.

Sturm had failed a post fight drug test (although the official fight result was never changed) and vacated the WBA belt.

And then Chudinov fought Groves for the vacant WBA title last May, which saw Groves stop him in the sixth round.

 Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.