By Alexey Sukachev
Tuesday, August 16, marked the highest achievement of the Russian Olympic boxing team, when heavyweight Evgueny Tischenko overcame his Kazakh opponent Vasily Levit to capture Russia’s only gold at the Rio Olympics.
The decision has been met with very mixed feelings amongst neutral fans and experts, with the majority of them viewing the contest it in favor of the hard-charging, physically strong slugger Levi -, whose style looked taior-made for prizefighting – unlike the viscous, awkward and hardly watchable amateurish approach of Tischenko.
Nevertheless, it was Tischenko, 2015 world champion, who got that win.
“I came here to get my gold medal but I was unable to execute my plan at its fullest, failing to make one crucial step to the first place. That is how it happens”, commented Levit afterwards.
When asked about his behavior after the verdict (instead of roaring with anger the Kazakh national chose to support Tischenko and to lift his hand up), Levit showed his trademark sportsmanship again, “Every boxer deserves to be respected and celebrated in the ring. Surely, I thought I won it, and my trainers felt the same, and my plan had been executed at its fullest. But you saw what has happened afterwards”.
Meanwhile, Russian pro boxing moguls have explicitly expressed their interest in both fighters and their possible rematch.
“I’m thinking about it (the second fight between Tischenko and Levit), with a nice purse at stake. Just in order to erase the inconsequence and mixed feeling, stemming from their first fight. What do you think? Many would like the idea”, wrote Andrey Ryabinskiy on his Twitter account.
“Evgueny Tischenko should be a useful addition to the pros. I’ll contact him and offer some sound terms to make this transition right after his arrival from Rio. Surely, he will have to adjust his style to the pro game. His present approach just doesn’t work in prizefighting. However, I feel Tischenko will make a successful move to the paid ranks and he will be a key player in his weight class”, added Ryabinskiy.
At the same time, another Russian top promoter Vladimir Hryunov paid attention to Levit. “I’m presently in Rio, and I’m planning to sign Vasily (Levit) today”, said Hryunov on the same day when the final had taken place.
Both Evgueny Tischenko and Vasily Levit expressed some interest in getting to the paid ranks but no official info had yet been presented.
