One of the best kept secrets in boxing! Very talented and extremely smart fighter. 27 years old and already 30-0 with some decent names in his record. It seems like no one is familiar with this guy? I've never seen anyone giving a word about him. BUT TODAY things will change! He faces Albert Mensah. Fight takes place in Mexico. Mensah beat Katsidis in his last fight but I guess tonight will be a different story for him. Shafikov UD and people starts to keep an eye on him. You agree? This content is protected
Love watching him fight He was/is the Euro Champ at 140? He used to be with some Finnish promoter but recenty signed with Ural Boxing Promotions saying that his old promoter took him as far as they could and he felt like Ural will be able to do more for him. I hope that is the case and he takes that next step up like Allakhverdiev just did, Denis is ready. Mensah is 5 inches taller than him ill be rooting for Shafikov but i am nervous for him.
P3 boxing stable. edit. nevermind. I did read few days ago from various sources this fight was supposed to be for lightweight... Now I watched it again and at least boxrec says light welter... Does someone have any real info is this fight 135 or 140? It was reported in few places to be lightweight then changing all of the suddenly to light welter...:huh
Denis is a real treat to watch. I wouldn't worry about the other guy being taller, Dennis has a good eye, he's good on his feet and has a good body movement. I think his greco roman wrestling background is contributing a lot to balance and movement. The only thing I have my doubts is that if the pace is fast I'm not sure how he can handle 12 rounds. I have the picture of him that in later rounds he can't keep up very good work rate and is a bit inactive. Then again, this could have changed. I agree with what was said about promoting part. I think P3 Boxing from Finland would have had limited possibilities to bring Dennis to American tv audiences which his new promotion partner has done now. This even will be aired on Fox Espaňol in the USA. Funny thing is that tonight fighters from Russia and Ghana will fight for Mediterranean title in Mexico
I've never really seen Shafikov before, but I saw Mensah's fight with Katsidis so hopefully I can catch tonight's fight.
it was on some US spanish language tv station too. Iv checked Ukrainian, Russian and English sites and cant find a damn thing
Finally!! Shafikov dropped Mensah twice and won a wide decision. Says Shafikov started at a very fast pace and was relentless, sounds like he swarmed him. They were both cut in the fight 119-107 118-108 118-108 UD Shafikov I read something earlier that the winner of this fight was for the #2 ranking in the WBC so a title eliminator may be in the near future for Denis :happy
Sorry it was for he IBF #2 spot which is even better since Garcia and Matthysse are probably the toughest fights at 140 and would be the hardest style matchups for him. Is PEDerson still the IBF Champ?