Στυλιανός Δημήτριος "Χρυσό Αγόρι" Παπαδόπουλος (Stylianos Dimitrios "Golden Boy" Papadopoulos)

The young Macedonian transplant - from kickboxing (where he was a decorated amateur, then undefeated pro) to its feet-on-the-floor counterpart sport, and from his wellspring Kavala to his current base in the even sunnier coastal port of Los Angeles - earlier today returned to compete on his native Greek soil for the first time since his pro debut 25 months ago. He fought in the first scheduled 10-rounder of his career, taking on the vastly more experienced Colombian slugger Deivis "El Metrallo" de Jesús Muriel Pérez in Athens for the vacant WBU European welterweight title. Pérez's corner threw im the white towel in the final round, giving Papadopoulos his third stoppage victory and elevating him to a record of 10-0-2 (3). It was the sub-discipline main event of the boxing portion of a WKN show (the 18th, specifically), which typically mixes boxing, kickboxing and MMA on the same bill.

In amateur boxing he was a gold medalist in several Pan-Hellenic (domestic) tourneys, participated (but didn't medal) in the world championships, and was an Olympic team alternate. He relocated to California in 2015 and has caught the personal attention of Sylvester Stallone, who gave his blessing to follow his dream and told him he saw championship material in him. Soon after he linked up with coach Rob Sale (who then used Stelios as part of his crew when serving as technical advisor on the film Creed, in which Sale also played a bit role, and served as Michael B. Jordan's chief pugilistic instructor)

During his time in LA, while not progressing much in terms of competition in the ring during official contests, Stelios has trained & sparred with luminaries such as Victor Ortiz, Gabe Rosado, Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, Manny Pacquiao and Canelo Álvarez.

My original intention was to do a RBR for WKN 18 if a tenable stream proved available, but alack. While he was still freshly on my radar, figured I would parlay that abortive plan into a spotlight thread, especially as there is actually some footage of him floating around. Now that he is graduated from 6-rounders at last (and has exorcised the couple of years' worth of homesickness built up since he debuted) and having begun to whet his appetite for a challenge by finally taking on a live body that has mixed in high company in Pérez, he should be stepping in with an increased level of competition going forward in the US - taking on guys ranked higher than 900th in the world, anyway. If he plays his cards right he could pop up on TV while in his full-blooming prime. Will be fun to watch him step up, if so.

The kid has expressed the personal motto "train hard until your idols become your opponents". Let's see if he becomes a Greek myth or an unsung tragic hero.

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

 

Hopefully video surfaces of Papadopoulos vs. Pérez - most likely will on the WKN Battle page on YouTube, eventually.

 

This content is protected

^ Stelios thanks his fans in Greece for coming out to support him in his biggest victory to date, made all the sweeter by his being able to scratch the longtime itch to perform in front of his countrymen. He will return to action in July in Las Vegas in another 10-rounder, more details TBA.

 

He is a hungry prospect..

This content is protected