By Alexey Sukachev

Talented junior welterweight prospect Denis Shafikov (22-0, 12 KOs) comes back to the squared circle tomorrow night at one of night clubs in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The 25-year old up-and-comer will fight for the first time in 2010 either against much bigger Uzbek Serkomil Rahimov (1-2), who usually competes between light middleweight and middleweight limits, or against another journeyman Alexey Shorokhov (2-3, 2 KOs), who has just lost on points to (formally) bantamweight Sahib Usarov (15-0, 6 KOs) in Gelendzhik. Rahimov seems to be a bigger possibility right now.

“Actually, we were forced to arrange this fight on a very short notice”, said Shafikov’s manager Oleg Bogdanov to BoxingScene. “Denis is ranked #3 by the EBU, and we are targeting European title right now. Denis hasn’t fought for a long time due to a complex injury. If he didn’t fight up until the end of June he would lose his high ranking. So, we are going into this contest literally on the very deadline. That’s why Shafikov’s next opponent is rather poor. Another reason is that we also want to test Denis after his injury. That’s not great to put him right against a skillful opponent days after he was cleared to get it on”.

This bout will be staged by Jab Promotions. “We decided to sign a co-promotional pact with the St. Petersburg-based company on a mutual agreement between our Finnish partners from P3 Boxing, ruled by Pekka Maki, and Vitaly Supichenko and Alexander Yagupov. Together we shall be able to bring Denis at the top of world ranks and even reserve him a spot for a title match-up versus one of the reigning champions in a foreseeable future”, added Bogdanov. “We are fully content with this newly-signed partnership. Conditions, which we have been offered, are even better than those we got from American promoters. One party will help us with TV coverage and rankings, while another is going to bring a steady financial backup. Our future seems to be pretty bright at the time, and Denis shouldn’t miss his opportunity to shine”.

Shafikov was previously solely promoted by P3 Boxing. His most successful year came in 2009, when Denis defeated five experienced opponents with a combined record 157-62-10. Shafikov also had a win over former world champion Raul Horacio Balbi in 2008.