By Alexey Sukachev

Two highly regarded undefeated fighters collide on October 29 at Yubileyniy Palace of Sports in St. Petersburg, Russia, as WBA Intercontinental light welterweight titleholder Brunet Zamora (20-0, 9 KOs), 35, puts his regalia at risk against rising Russian prospect Denis “Genghis Khan” Shafikov (25-0, 14 KOs) as a part of a major show, being installed by Jab Promotions. Zamora, an Italia-based Cuban defector, is ranked #3 by the WBA and has recently stopped tough Argentinean Eduardo Roman in just a round.

Shafikov, 25, after scoring five notable victories the last year, was out in the first half of 2010 due to an injury but since then notched three wins in a row, including a convincing eight-round decision over Ugandan Peter Semo. Meanwhile, Zamora was able to stop Semo in ten a year and a half ago.

Semo will be one of Shafikov’s sparring partners in his preparation for the toughest fight to date. “We shall employ Peter to help us getting ready for Zamora”, said Shafikov’s manager Oleg Bogdanov. “We shall also work with hard-hitting lightweight Rustam Nugaev (20-5-1, 12 KOs). He is different from Zamora but his experience can hardly be overestimated. I hope WBA #12 highly regarded Ruslan Provodnikov (16-0, 11 KOs) will join us as well but he has a fight scheduled for October in Yekaterinburg so it’s an odd choice”.

Shafikov will prepare for a fight with the Cuban under a guidance of a new trainer. “Sergey Sobinov gave Denis everything he had”, reflected Bogdanov, “But his abilities, though great, are limited and, as of now, he cannot provide Shafikov with something new, something really useful. So we decided to change the head coach, and now Denis will work with Alexander Zimin, our famed trainer. The contract is signed just for one fight – against Zamora – and then we shall see where this partnership leads us. But I’m ensured Zimin will level Denis skills up and make him a better fighter than he is right now. I feel that they adapted to each other just under a single workout. That’s great”.

Zimin is best known for his work with prominent champions of the past Orzubek Nazarov (WBA lightweight champion in 1993-1998) and Yuri Arbachakov (WBC flyweight king in 1992-1997). He has recently been working with Nikolay Valuev and bantamweight contender Alexander Bakhtin.

“The fight with Zamora is all but done. An agreement is reached, and we shall finalize everything from day to day”, concluded Bogdanov. “I hope the fight itself will be televised by one of Russian top TV companies”.

Jab Promotions, one of two Russia’s biggest companies, brings up a well-rounded card with two more notable title clashes. Russian Dmitry Sukhotskiy (15-1, 10 KOs) collides with Pole Aleksey Kuziemski (19-1, 4 KOs) in an important light heavyweight twelve-rounder. WBO #1 middleweight Gennady Martorosyan defends his WBO European belt against Portuguese Vitor Sa (21-4, 4 KOs). Also on the card, Alexander Kotlobay (18-2-1, 12 KOs) comes back after a crushing defeat from the hands of Enzo Maccarinelli to fight Hungarian journeyman Laszlo Hubert (28-6, 18 KOs), and well-known Swedish heavyweight Attila Levin (34-3, 27 KOs) will be seen in a tune-up fight.