Maksim Sergeyevich "The Kill" Vlasov

Man, how many times was this guy written off as yet another cautionary tale we told young boxers or newbie fans? A campfire story to spook the uninitiated and scare them straight lest they fall into the complacency trap, a sobering reminder that if you don't use it, you're gonna lose it. A poster boy for "wasted talent". Along with marginally smaller countryman Matvey Korobov and two much smaller men from Hispaniola (Joan Guzmán and Yuriorkis Gamboa) - and, some would argue, German cruiser prospect Alexander Frenkel - their names became the veritable 21st-century bywords for latent awesomeness gone to rot, for plateauing, for languishing, for withering away on the vine.

It has been thirteen years now since he first hit the scene (or will be, officially, in ten weeks' time) as this scrawny feather-fist with a purportedly brief yet strong amateur background, way down at middleweight. It feels like Vlasov has been around forever, because he actually has. Crazy that he's still only 31 now (that scrawny middleweight, to be fair, in his debut and sophomore efforts was only a tender eighteen).

He first ventured onto US soil in 2007 and by the following year was making regular appearances, turning heads and generating word-of-mouth buzz scoring impressive knockouts at super middle (the new home weight into which he began to comfortably grow), with the lone distance-going exception in a nine fight run over a three year period being the extremely durable and well-regarded journeyman Don Mouton, whom Vlasov dominated in spite of a couple of wonky scorecards resulting in a MD that had everybody in attendance or watching the nationally televised broadcast on the Versus channel scratching their heads.

Then, in the sort of bold "clash of hot prospects" matchmaking that was so exemplary of ESPN2 FNF in the program's heyday, Vlasov tasted defeated at the hands of young Isaac Chilemba - a close fight in which the Russian actually dropped the famously tough Malawian twice but simply couldn't seal the deal. Not that major a setback. No big deal...

Return home to Motherland for a couple of confidence-boosters, then a nice string of C+/B- level victories, some of them with the WBC Baltic 168lb title on the line. 11-0 (5) in this span, encompassing another three years and including yet another domination of a durable and well-regarded American journeyman (Derrick Findley). He attempted to add some new insight with another voice in the corner, bringing in famed Oxnard fighter turned coach Roberto Garcia, with his former head trainer (same one from the very beginning, amateur through pro) graciously stepping aside to make room and play second fiddle. The problem is how excruciatingly flat-lined the level of competition was for Vlasov at this point. It wasn't that he didn't stay active enough. 11 fights in 3 years is fine. It wasn't that he fought a bunch of bums. Shkarupa, Gevor, Ajetovic - perfectly acceptable rivals for a man of Vlasov's experience. It was just that it never went anywhere. He'd fight somebody halfway decent, and then somebody else of the same (or slightly lower) caliber. His progress was staccato, and he was no longer really learning anything with each trip in the ring. In fact, his performances began to regress. He was stopping fewer of his opponents than in his early undefeated rise (granted some of these guys were fairly tough) and losing more rounds against them. He starts having troubles making weight, and taking odd assignments moonlighting at 175lbs. He never capitalized or built on any momentum and began to look stale, which led to a lot of fans that had previously been singing his praises abandoning ship or shrugging and saying "wake me up when something happens with him".

Finally, a decade into his career, he gets his next big shot on a high-profile stage, his first since Chilemba. A crack at unbeaten rising Mexican star (and future WBO super middleweight champion) Gilberto Ramírez Sánchez in a 10-rounder as co-feature to a clinching rubber-match of a wildly popular trilogy (Alvarado vs. Rios) on HBO. Vlasov barely showed up, mentally, and was simply outworked by Zurdo in a blasé contest that ranks among the most forgettable evenings' work for both men. Adjectives used in my Alvarado vs. Rios III RBR thread in describing Vlasov's effort: "awkward", "unimpressive", "not firing on all cylinders", "lackluster", "did enough to lose", "not showing much of a punch", "tiring badly and early", "boring", "trigger-shy", "no steam", "came on with too little too late", "where the **** is his jab", "why can't he defend against body shots?", etc.

Whoever might have been left on the bandwagon, disembarked in 2015. (I believe that includes Grandpa Beto, unless it was Vlasov's decision to end that relationship. For the best for both; the chemistry was never there and they just didn't "click")

But then a funny thing happened.

Vlasov took several months off to reflect (and up the protein in his diet, presumably) and somewhere in his ruminations thought "well...**** it. Let me go to cruiser for a fresh start, why not?"

He started with an easy shutout in a 6-rounder against Gusmyr Perdomo (the Venezuelan whose cranial shape very clearly indicates he was a natural childbirth and not a C-section , mostly remembered as Mikkel Kessler's appetizer for the Super-6, and who later went on to hold Egor Mekhontsev to a MD), in hostile territory in Caracas, making the home squad go a paltry 3-2 on the night, on a Jorge Linares undercard.

Emboldened, he jumped right back into the fray, starting a 4-match homestand in Moscow, boxing every couple of months, kicking ass, taking names, barely losing a round - all culminating in that elusive signature victory, knocking out the once highly touted (but now somewhat damaged goods and diminished-value, but a big name coup nonetheless) Ismayl Sillakh.

A few months of confusing international free-agency later (his managerial & promotional team were only able to secure fights at home in Russia, and I guess the well ran dry for a little while) later, he was informed of a big opportunity for which he needed a tuneup, and landed a last-minute gig in Latvia to claim his first minor trinket in over two years, the IBO Cruiser Intercontinental, by knocking out Brazilian glass cannon (is that redundant? ) Carlos "Falcão" Nascimento.

That aforementioned opportunity for which he needed to shake off some rust? None other than Rakhim Chakhkiev (himself twice-defeated but still an even bigger scalp than Sillakh when Vlasov fought him) for a trade-up in hardware to an even bigger prize, the WBA International title, and with it a contender's ranking in his new division by a major org. Vlasov saw himself through a few hairy moments and outlasted Chakhkiev in a fun war, his superior craft shining through.

2017 was perhaps the most perfect year on paper of Vlasov's entire career - no single huge victory, but he went 4-for-4 (all by KO), stayed consistently active with all his engagements spaced three months apart, with the competition steadily improving all year. Daley and Meroro, while not quite as high on his trophy case as Sillakh and Chakhkiev, are both top 5 wins for him in this span...and most importantly, he cemented himself as top-5 in all four major organizations' rankings.

Which brings us to last weekend, on the second WBSS Cruiser semifinal undercard, where he finally got in with a credible threat at CW, the widely feared Ola Durodola. Not only did he prove he could handle the Nigerian's punches (said to be among the hardest you can feel at the weight), he dominated, shut Durodola out and forced a corner mercy stoppage.

Damn. What a ride. You don't often hear of a guy earning a reputation for sitting on the shelf too long and/or facing too many stiffs in a row and/or not developing his game throughout his early-mid career, only to bust out a complete 180° turn and start maximizing their potential a dozen years into their professional campaign, picking up 4 of their 5 best wins after putting 30 candles on their birthday cake. Moral of the story: when someone decides they're going to seize the bull's horns and wrestle it down, you best put some respect on the name of that rodeo clown.

So yeah, all that "cautionary tale" guff from a few years ago? Y'all can put "The Kill" on that.

Compare, little baby Vlasov:

This content is protected

...with MS"TK"V @ 200lbs:

This content is protected

Look how far we've come!!

This content is protected

 

Imagine he could've glimpsed into a crystal ball eight years ago, would he make the leap to cruiser much earlier rather than waste his time boiling to a less effective fighting weight at which he'd never truly prosper?

Could he by now have several world title victories to his credit, had that happened?

How many epic match-ups did we miss out seeing because of his misguided start at 168lbs? Granted, he would've not really overlapped with Haye/Mormeck/Adamek before their mass exodus to heavyweight, but still. Huck. Włodarczyk. Lebedev. Drozd. Ross. Cunningham. Jones. Afolabi. In or near their primes.

 

Yeah.

Middle to cruiser isn't exactly unprecedented, but middle to cruiser with a like 500% amplification of efficacy? ...that's crazy.

He's going toe-to-toe with dangerous guys (ruined goods or not, I don't care what anyone says, Chakhkiev and Sillakh will both have the power to hurt anybody until the day they hang 'em up...and then of course Durodola) showing no fear, just intelligently applying the same patient, technical, ad-hoc style (throwing in high volume at times, and sheathing his fists when prudent...the epitome of the song "you've gotta know when to hold 'em" ; throwing alternately hard and soft punches throughout a fight; leading and countering as he sees fit after reading each situation and opponent) from throughout his career, just with greater physicality now and seeming at last to be "in his skin".

It wasn't like he sucked at SMW, either. Quite the opposite, the reason so many fans were so frustrated with him was because his talent was clear - it just never had the ideal conditions to really work into a lather down there. Nobody in the moment could identify the problem, and I don't think anybody could've guessed "eh, he probably just needs to put on like 32lbs, and he'll be great"

 

Yep!! Meant to actually name him in the OP (mentioned him but anonymously, forgot to copy/paste the name in, whoops...didn't want to go from memory and misspell it).

Straying from him was clearly a mistake. What he was missing wasn't a competent trainer, clearly, just about 14 kilos of body mass.

He regressed badly under Roberto Garcia, IMO. (not that Garcia is a bad coach - for some fighters, he's quite good. Not the right fit in this case. Vlasov has done just fine under Petrochenko, and I wouldn't ever advice him to switch to anybody else now, after having built a stable relationship for, what, fifteen or sixteen years now?)

 

Everybody keeps talking about Bellew (most notably Bellew himself) as if he was the "Lucian Bute" of this ongoing parallel comparison between the WBSS and the Super-6 (that is, the guy on the sidelines, awaiting the newly crowned tourney champ, declaring himself the last unconquered obstacle toward recognition as "the man") but honestly I'd respect Usyk/Gassiev way more for taking on The Kill in their first post-tourney defense as opposed to Bomber, and think it would lend greater credence to solidify their hegemony (not that it would need much solidifying by that point).

...am I alone in that?

I'd pick Vlasov over Bellew h2h right now, too. Unless it was @ the Echo Arena with Fast Car snatching a purse bid, then he might get robbed even if he decked Tony a few times, unless he finished him off.

 

Holy ****, that is awesome!! (I mean, yeah, of course let's hope nothing bad happens, as I'm very much a fan of both finalists, both as sportsmen & people, but just in case, that is good to know!! Both for Vlasov's sake and that of the actual tourney itself, would be saved from distaster!)

Also makes sense why they would feature him on the semifinal undercard. Does this mean he might finally be signing with a bigger-fish promoter in Sauerland, too? I think we can agree he probably has outgrown the capabilities of a regional operator like Shamo Petrossian.

 

Ah. I wonder if the fighters knew that in advance? If so that makes the way Vlasov handled Durodola all the more impressive. That means "God's Power" not only was hungry to notch a big win after having lost the Kudrya rematch, but he would've been VERY hungry and motivated to become the WBSS alternate. Yet he got schooled, with ease.

Still can't get over what a different animal he is now than our poor, bedraggled, disinterested antihero of yore @ SMW. He's more radiantly confident, as well as physically sharper in the ring.

 

BTW, the WBC had Vlasov as their #3 cruiser in their New Year's rankings ...and that's without including the stoppage of Durodola and scooping up the Silver title!!

That means he could very well leapfrog #2 Andrew Tabiti (whose mere NABF title can't possibly trump a world Silver) and #1 Krzysztof Głowacki (who fought a couple of pretty-record nobodies in 2017 and is lined up with another on Saturday) to become the #1 contender!!!

...and that in turn means that if Usyk beats Gassiev and then moves up to heavyweight and vacates his belt, Vlasov could instantly slide into a vacant WBC title bout!!!