Former Ukranian born boxer who boxed for Russia in the early to mid 2000's at HW and SHW. 6'4, southpaw, rangy, fast hands, nice combination puncher, action type fighter -- offensive machine but flawed defensively to say the least, much like counterpart Islam Timurziev(RIP to both fighters.) It's tough for me to come around and praise former Soviet boxers for some reason, low IQ and nationalism probably being the main reasons, but I always loved watching Romanchuk fight, and Timurziev too. Both Romanchuk and Timurziev had a spectacular upset loss or two on their records, but for the most part were dominant figures in the 2000's in domestic and international amateur boxing. Both had some excellent wins and had good durability considering their defensively fatal flaws and come forward offensive style of boxing. If you havent seen either guy fight I HIGHLY recommend you go look around for some of their fights. I was a bigger fan of Romanchuk but some will like/appreciate Timurziev more I'm sure. And dont get it twisted, they certainly were not brawler s, they were both HIGHLY skilled -- offensively at least. If they had turned pro in their primes they definitely -- IMO -- would have made a lot of noise and been contenders at the least, but like compatriots Chagaev and Sultan Ibragimov, I really can't see either of them having much of a chance against Wlad Klitschko -- though with their offensive skill, power, and in Romanchuk's case, hand speed, id never bet against either of them against Wlad. I think Romanchuk was better naturally equipped to match up with Wlad, but then again he was shorter with a shorter reach than Wlad and didnt have much -- if any -- head/upper body movement which would probably prove fatal against Wlad. They would have been fun fights I think for sure though and I really would have liked to have seen what they could have accomplished as pros. I liked both Romanchuk and Timurziev better than Ibragimov and Chagaev, and even preffered Romanchuk to Povetkin(not saying I thought Romanchuk was better -- he almost definitely wasn't, ditto Timurziev) but stylistically and with what he brought to the table talent-wise, I liked Romanchuk better. Man, looking back in retrospect, the Soviets and later on just Russia, were absolute factories in international amateur competition. They still are today, but I don't consider any of their recent HW's or SHW's to be on-par with those guys, they certainly didnt have the aura that those guys had and im pretty sure the accolades either(if including former Soviet nations then a few guys have the accolades and then some on those guys, at least not named Povetkin.) Thoughts? Any fans of Romanchuk or Timurziev?
Yes if course...he would have fought in an era when even guys like Oleg Maskaev. Serhei Lyakovich, and Sam Peter were picking up belts. Even if he never won a belt, just having him around might have made it a better era. Never understood it. There was NOTHING going on in heavyweight boxing, and talented guys like him floating around, Cammarelle, and Mezhidov refusing to go pro, and guys like Malik Scott and Bogdan Dinu, who are struggling today, doing absolutely **** all with their careers at a time when they might have mattered. Just a terrible era.
Agreed. Still cant believe what ended up happening with Timurziev and Romanchuk. I loved watching them fight.
