By Rick Reeno
Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas - The IBF recently ordered Denis Shafikov (36-1-1, 20KOs) and Rances Barthelemy (23-0, 13KOs) to fight for the vacant lightweight championship that Mickey Bey vacated several weeks ago.
Shafikov challenged Miguel Vazquez for the IBF crown last February and lost pretty handedly on the scorecards over twelve. Since the sole of his career, Shafikov secured three wins in a row and is now trained by experienced coach Abel Sanchez, who is currently best known for training IBO/WBA middleweight king Gennady Golovkin.
He won an IBF eliminator to become the mandatory challenger to Bey, who beat Vazquez for the title last September. After months of stalling, Bey vacated the belt and Barthelemy stepped in - by way of the IBF's order - to fight for the strap.
Sanchez is very confident in Shafikov's ability to power past Barthelemy.
"It won't be [difficult] Shafikov will make him quit before the end of the twelfth," Sanchez told BoxingScene.com.
Sanchez explained that Shafikov has vastly improved since his their time together and is now a much better fighter than he was when challenging for the title the first time around.
"I think for him it's been more mental, on how you fight from the first from the twelfth, instead of fighting the first round first and the second round second and the third round third. I think its very important for him to learn how to structure a fight and beating a guy down from the fist round. He was a tenacious bulldog before and he's even more of a tenacious bulldog now with power," Sanchez said.