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By Dave Skretta, AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK — Matvey Korobov and his father George are the only ones who will ever know what it felt like when they were reunited after a decade apart.
The Russian boxing prodigy and his gregarious father struggle to put the scene from two years ago into words, not so much because of the language barrier, but because they are still overcome with emotion.
"You don't understand," George says in an otherwise empty Manhattan hotel ballroom. He points to the ceiling, then to his heart, searching the air for the proper words.
"We call three times, two, every day," he tells The Associated Press. "Then to see my son, I'm like, everything I like is now in America."
Since the two-time world champion and 2008 Olympian has turned pro, elite promoter Top Rank has put Korobov on the fast track. The 26-year-old middleweight will step into the ring Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in a coveted spot immediately before Miguel Cotto's welterweight title defense against Joshua Clottey.
"Boxing is my life and I had a good opportunity for a future," Korobov says softly, almost embarrassed to be the center of attention. "I'm so happy and so glad, this is my work."
Korobov's family fled Russia without him in 1998, when the country was in the midst of financial collapse. They had been a reasonably prosperous family, George a successful businessman and wife Larissa working in the gold industry. George was educated, played the bass in restaurants, and even gave young Matt a chance at learning the piano.
The precocious youngster took to boxing much more eagerly.
"I cry when they want me to play piano," he says.
When he was 13, Matt moved to a sports academy connected to the famed military club CSKA Moscow, where he developed into one of the best amateurs in the world.
The handsome young man with the easy smile and humble demeanor toiled and trained while his country fell apart around him.
Korobov and his family decided to move to the United States, settling in Florida, but they made the painful decision that Matt would stay behind and continue training with his Russian amateur team. None of them knew that a decade would pass before they'd see each other again.
When Matt turned 18, he joined the military and did two years' mandatory service, twice winning world military championships. He became the Russian sports ministry's jewel, capturing the 2005 World Cup and world championship, the 2006 European championship and the 2007 world championship -- more than 300 total wins, an unparalleled run of amateur success.
"He didn't lose a fight for like, eight years straight," says his manager, Cameron Dunkin, who has also unearthed prospects like current middleweight king Kelly Pavlik.
After his gold-medal performance at the 2007 world championships in Chicago, the entire Korobov family cried and hugged just outside the ring at the UIC Pavilion. For years they had wondered what it would be like, seeing each other again, and now George and his wife could fully grasp what their son had become.
"It was the first time meeting in so many years," Matt Korobov says. "Before that, I called every day -- two, three times a day -- but they lived in America, I lived in Russia. It was just telephone life."
Korobov considered staying in the United States and turning pro, but returned to Russia and competed in the Olympics. He lost a stunning upset in the second round in Beijing, clearly the biggest surprise of the tournament, but it didn't dent his professional prospects.
"A lot of Russian minister of sport people don't want me to be a pro in America," Korobov says. "My family is staying in America, I want to go to America. This is the mecca of pro boxing. But after I signed, a lot of people were shocked in Russia."
It wasn't as if Korobov defected under the cloak of night, but it wasn't as simple as hopping on an airplane, either.
Most top prospects are both pressured and supported by the Russian government, and pursue careers in Europe when they do turn pro. Korobov's move to the U.S. was almost unprecedented.
Korobov had been wildly popular back home, but his abdication turned many fans against him. He was labeled a sellout and a traitor, and was viewed as turning his back on his birth country for one that represents completely different ideals.
"There's still some resentment," Dunkin says. "There won't be soon, when he does what he's going to do. They'll be back on his side."
Korobov (5-0, 5 KOs) is considered the star of the 2008 class.
"Believe me," Top Rank boss Bob Arum says, "he will be a future middleweight champion."
The path toward that gilded goal has already been laid out.
Dunkin plans to have Korobov fight again in two weeks, and five more times by the end of the year -- a rare and punishing pace. By the end of 2010, the young Russian who was forced to grow up on his own and has spent so much of his life without his family could get that title shot.
But even if he's forced to wait a little while longer, he's already proven that patience is one of his best virtues.
"Much better life for me in America. It's my dream, you know?" Korobov says. "When I was young, sometimes I would watch big fights and I would dream and I would hope that sometime I would go to Madison Square Garden.
"We speak a lot about American life, I so like America."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NEW YORK — Matvey Korobov and his father George are the only ones who will ever know what it felt like when they were reunited after a decade apart.
The Russian boxing prodigy and his gregarious father struggle to put the scene from two years ago into words, not so much because of the language barrier, but because they are still overcome with emotion.
"You don't understand," George says in an otherwise empty Manhattan hotel ballroom. He points to the ceiling, then to his heart, searching the air for the proper words.
"We call three times, two, every day," he tells The Associated Press. "Then to see my son, I'm like, everything I like is now in America."
Since the two-time world champion and 2008 Olympian has turned pro, elite promoter Top Rank has put Korobov on the fast track. The 26-year-old middleweight will step into the ring Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in a coveted spot immediately before Miguel Cotto's welterweight title defense against Joshua Clottey.
"Boxing is my life and I had a good opportunity for a future," Korobov says softly, almost embarrassed to be the center of attention. "I'm so happy and so glad, this is my work."
Korobov's family fled Russia without him in 1998, when the country was in the midst of financial collapse. They had been a reasonably prosperous family, George a successful businessman and wife Larissa working in the gold industry. George was educated, played the bass in restaurants, and even gave young Matt a chance at learning the piano.
The precocious youngster took to boxing much more eagerly.
"I cry when they want me to play piano," he says.
When he was 13, Matt moved to a sports academy connected to the famed military club CSKA Moscow, where he developed into one of the best amateurs in the world.
The handsome young man with the easy smile and humble demeanor toiled and trained while his country fell apart around him.
Korobov and his family decided to move to the United States, settling in Florida, but they made the painful decision that Matt would stay behind and continue training with his Russian amateur team. None of them knew that a decade would pass before they'd see each other again.
When Matt turned 18, he joined the military and did two years' mandatory service, twice winning world military championships. He became the Russian sports ministry's jewel, capturing the 2005 World Cup and world championship, the 2006 European championship and the 2007 world championship -- more than 300 total wins, an unparalleled run of amateur success.
"He didn't lose a fight for like, eight years straight," says his manager, Cameron Dunkin, who has also unearthed prospects like current middleweight king Kelly Pavlik.
After his gold-medal performance at the 2007 world championships in Chicago, the entire Korobov family cried and hugged just outside the ring at the UIC Pavilion. For years they had wondered what it would be like, seeing each other again, and now George and his wife could fully grasp what their son had become.
"It was the first time meeting in so many years," Matt Korobov says. "Before that, I called every day -- two, three times a day -- but they lived in America, I lived in Russia. It was just telephone life."
Korobov considered staying in the United States and turning pro, but returned to Russia and competed in the Olympics. He lost a stunning upset in the second round in Beijing, clearly the biggest surprise of the tournament, but it didn't dent his professional prospects.
"A lot of Russian minister of sport people don't want me to be a pro in America," Korobov says. "My family is staying in America, I want to go to America. This is the mecca of pro boxing. But after I signed, a lot of people were shocked in Russia."
It wasn't as if Korobov defected under the cloak of night, but it wasn't as simple as hopping on an airplane, either.
Most top prospects are both pressured and supported by the Russian government, and pursue careers in Europe when they do turn pro. Korobov's move to the U.S. was almost unprecedented.
Korobov had been wildly popular back home, but his abdication turned many fans against him. He was labeled a sellout and a traitor, and was viewed as turning his back on his birth country for one that represents completely different ideals.
"There's still some resentment," Dunkin says. "There won't be soon, when he does what he's going to do. They'll be back on his side."
Korobov (5-0, 5 KOs) is considered the star of the 2008 class.
"Believe me," Top Rank boss Bob Arum says, "he will be a future middleweight champion."
The path toward that gilded goal has already been laid out.
Dunkin plans to have Korobov fight again in two weeks, and five more times by the end of the year -- a rare and punishing pace. By the end of 2010, the young Russian who was forced to grow up on his own and has spent so much of his life without his family could get that title shot.
But even if he's forced to wait a little while longer, he's already proven that patience is one of his best virtues.
"Much better life for me in America. It's my dream, you know?" Korobov says. "When I was young, sometimes I would watch big fights and I would dream and I would hope that sometime I would go to Madison Square Garden.
"We speak a lot about American life, I so like America."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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