Fedor Papazov Plans To Be More Active in 2016

By Ryan Burton

Lightweight contender Fedor Papazov (16-1) will make his first ring appearance of the year when he faces Miguel Angel Gonzalez (23-4) at The D Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday.  The fight will be on the off television portion of a ShoBox quadruple header.

Papazov is eager to get back in the ring after a long layoff.  He said that he sparred with 2012 Olympian Taras Shelestyuk (12-0) who fights in the co-feature bout and that Shelestyuk's brother trained him for this fight.

"The camp was great. The first month I focused on strength and conditioning work. The second month was a lot of sparring, mitts and bags. Especially good was the sparring with Taras Shelestuyuk. His brother Bogdan has trained me for this camp well and I feel that I'm totally ready," Papazov explained.

Last year Papazov participated in the lightweight Boxcino tournament and lost to eventual tournament winner Petr Petrov in the opening round.  He picked up two wins after that loss and said that the tournament made him a better fighter.

"I know one thing, I need to go into the ring and win. What it will do for my career I will see after.  Everything that has happened, happen for good. I learned a lot from that loss (to Petrov). I learned to always be ready and don't ignore the small things," said Papazov.

The 5'5" Russian has been out of the ring for a year but said that he is completely healed and plans on being more active after this fight.

"I had to have a long break because I was injured. I was supposed to fight on the  Ruslan Provodnikov versus Lucas Matthysse card but was injured a week before the fight so it didn't happen. I'm not worried about the time off. It made me more hungry and everything I need is to fight," Papazov told BoxingScene.com.

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