Alexei Vasilyevich Papin vs. Willbeforce Shihepo

Taking place June 23rd at the Floyd Mayweather Academy in Zhukovkha, 10 rounds @ cruiserweight headlining a World of Boxing Rus Promotions card.

Papin, a massive puncher hewn from granite with a 9-0 (8) record who crossed over from kickboxing (where he racked up 300 fights competing in WAKO, K1 and other ventures and under a few slightly different rule sets, losing only about half a dozen of them and scooping up a trophy room full of regional and international titles along the way, impressively moonlighting to compile a 40-3 amateur boxing record concurrently) in his late twenties - and dead-ringer Nathan Fillion lookalike - is coming off a brutal statement-making KO1 destruction of Ukrainian slickster Ismayl Sillakh last November (serving as the highlight of the ultimately disappointing Kuzmin vs. Mansour undercard). He was supposed to face unbeaten Kazakh-Russian southpaw Vladimir Keleș in March but had to withdraw just four days out with a ruptured anterior cruciform ligament. He is now reportedly fully healed, and during rehab continued sparring with his friends Oleksandr Usyk (who previously called upon him to prep for Mairis Briedis) and Maksim Vlasov...and is taking on a more experienced and dangerous opponent than Keleș, on paper...

Shihepo, a Namibian fifteen-year pro who thus far has campaigned from middleweight through light heavy, is the former WBO super middleweight African champion. His luck outside his native continent hasn't typically been fortuitous in the past, however, with a 1-3 mark in Europe including both of his stoppage defeats. He is a tough nut to crack nonetheless - one stoppage (to Stas Kashtanov on Ukrainoan soil) was a corner retirement and the other (at the hands of Callum Johnson under the Union Jack banner) while indeed a count of ten KO, was off a body shot (edit: NO IT WASN'T, stupid BoxRec, gr. It was however off a Mack truck of a right hand late in a hard fight). Willbeforce can soak up plenty of head shots (as he did for the bulk of 12 rounds against Arthur Abraham, in a fight where Shihepo got robbed blind, officially losing a unanimous decision although he took it 116-112 on my card). He's a heavy-handed and hard-headed veteran who alternates between boxing behind a smooth jab on the outside and swarming in with power flurries throwing arm punches and then clinching.

Papin should IMO prove to be too much for Shihepo and secure the late stoppage, given how the Namibian has always come up short against his best opposition faced (aside from the Abraham robbery...and the SMW version of Abraham isn't half the fighter Papin seems cut out to be at cruiser) - but he will be forced to work hard for it.

 

From the Brähmer vs. Abatangelo/Pulev vs. Thompson/Abraham vs. Shihepo RBR thread:

Again, there's no comparison between the budding cruiser monster that is Papin and the profoundly mediocre 168lb version of Abraham (whom Robert Stieglitz beat up & forced to quit just a few months before he fought the Namibian)...plus that was 32lb south and 5 years ago, when Shihepo was the age Papin is now. Just illustrating that Will's no slouch. He deserved the nod over a guy that went on to be the WBO super middleweight champ for 2 years. Definitely not a step down in class from the 5-0 (2) Keleș or a disappointing choice of next post-injury opponent in his stead.

 

Dude you've watched him; you posted in that very RBR thread during the Abraham vs. Shihepo fight. You getting senile, buddy?

 

Yeah I was just watching it actually after your oxygen comment...that's what I get for trusting a BoxRec editor's stupid writeup. They claim Johnson landed a right hand and then followed with a "right hook on the body" and "the latter resulted in him being down for the count"

I've watched the slow-mo 5x now, there's no ****ing body shot in that finishing sequence. Johnson chinned him with a pair of straight right leads up top (although it was the first that did all the damage, the second was academic)

 

Yeah I think Linares vs. Crolla I ended up being the only fight I saw from that card.

And yeah Pinoy get your house in order man, you have a colleague that's blinder than Zatoichi.

 

This will likely be televised on Матч! Боец, as most World of Boxing shows are lately.