While the focus of local boxing community is firmly set on two Moscow shows, which will take place on May 30 (Povetkin vs. Charr plus Rakhim Chakhkiev) and on June 1 (Nielsen vs. Chudinov), there’s still something to watch in Russia aside from those in the coming weeks.
Newly appointed WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, the son of late IBHOF entrant Jose Sulaiman Chagnon, recently took some time out of his schedule to visit one of the World Boxing Council’s most progressive members – Russia. The senior president made a two-day business trip to Moscow, and met the local boxing community at the beautiful “Golden Ring” hotel near the historical place of Arbat. Mauricio Sulaiman was accompanied by lovely Oksana Semenishina, the president’s personal representative in Russia, and by the widow of late WBC stalwart Edmund Lipinskiy, one of the founders of Russian prizefighting.
Young cruiserweight Ruslan Faifer (3-0, 1 KO) got a workmanlike decision over comebacking Ibragim Khalilov (4-2-2, 2 KOs). Khalilov fought just for the second time in six years. However, Faifer experienced some mild problems in the second half of the fight but overcame them at the very end. Still scores (60-54 x3) were too wide, as the fight itself was closer than that. BoxingScene had it 59-56 - for Faifer.
It looks like a big Armenian homecoming as yet another talented Russia-born Armenian has been added to the fight card on April 18 in Krasnodar, the capital of the region with a huge Armenian population. The entire show is being promoted by Kirill Pchenlinkov and his boxing company. A new and welcome add-on to the list is Aik “Humanoid” Shakhnazaryan (11-0, 4 KOs), a 20-year old light welterweight boxer-puncher, who has been riding pretty high recently. Shakhnazaryan, who is coming off an impressive second-round stoppage of former amateur star Alisher Rakhimov just two weeks ago, will have a chance to capture the WBO Europe 140lb title.
Kiev was in the centre of worldwide attention for the last two months, being a very centre of Euromaidan protests in Ukraine, which evolved into another Cold War-like political crisis in Eastern Europe. While the political life seems to be much more heated than a sportive one at this point, the latter continues to live on even in the front-line city. Boxing is no exception. On March 14, Stepan Chernovetskiy’s Elite Boxing Promotion gets back to the city with their top prospects. There will be no top-notch contenders like WBC #1 light welterweight Victor Postol or cruiserweight powerhouse Dmytro Kucher but rather young, up-and-coming guns.
Alexey Vasilyev and Evgueny Vainstein of the Ural Boxing Promotions came back to the boxing activities in their citadel of Chelyabinsk and did that in style, forming a nice-packed little tourney today at the Traktor Ice Palace.
WBA “Regular” light welterweight champion “King” Khabib Allakhverdiev (19-0, 9 KOs) had just one fight in 2013, stopping veteran Frenchman Souleymane M’Baye over eleven rounds in July. It looks like the coming year will be much busier for the Ring #8 ranked 140lber. According to Shafidin, Khabib’s brother and his personal coach, the 30-year old champion will fight next on April 12 in Las Vegas, Nevada, as a part of a big Top Rank-promoted show, which will be crowned with another fight of Manny Pacquiao. No opponent was named by Shafidin.
There was an international club match-up this past Saturday at the Ivanhoe Country Club, near the city of Podolsk, Russia, arranged by Pavel Popov and Dmitry Bogomolov of the Podolsk Fighting League. Russia was fighting Tanzanian in a four-match main event of the evening. Local fighters made a clear sweep at the end, scoring four wins in as many fights, two of them inside the distance.
After a lazy summer, Russian boxing is as active as it’s ever been. Having reached its pinnacle in a mega-fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin for a unified heavyweight championship on October 5, it continues to thrive in November. With two weeks left in the month, no less than six tiny but well-packed club shows are scheduled, while several more have already taken their places in late October and early November. Some plans and fixtures are reviewed below.
Sergey Mitchnik of Baltic Box Promotion continued his mission of bringing prizefighting back to one of its cradles in Russia – its northern centre of St. Petersburg. Giving back to local fans and community Mitchnik relies on the fight-proven veterans, whom he returned to the ring from lengthy retirements. Another of his shows, staged on Sep. 19, at Casino Conti, saw former champs Dmitry Kirillov and Mger Mkrtchyan in tune-up attractions.