Russian boxing thread ( - !)

From personal experience;

I see the Ukranian and Kazakh boxers in a brotherly way, very proud of what is being accomplished by these athletes in terms of paving the way for future boxers from EE countries.

My father supported Klitshko when he was younger, and he wasn't a boxing fan, so the Klitshkos were definitely popular in Russia.

I've seen Valuev & Lebedev commercials on Russian tv when I was younger as well, so both those guys def get some pull.

A recent fight, Sturm vs Chudinov was watched by a lot of casuals in Russia. Lomachenko has a buzz as well.

Women in Russian media are very respected imo.

one of the most famous people in Russia, 2nd after Putin, is a woman. Probably the most beloved public figure in Russia atm.

 

Tennis actually isn't big in Russia, but Maria Sharapova is one of those people that gossip magazines like talking about. She's famous for being hot, I guess. Kind of like Britney Spears interests people because of her persona, not for her music.

Ovechkin and other big hockey players are well-known only by hockey fans. Even when Russia wins an international tournament (and they usually lose to Canada), it's not a huge deal nationally. I remember going to Italy in 2006 after the soccer world cup, and everyone including women knew who the main players were. That's never the case in Russia after a big international first place in hockey. In Russia patriotism is only about politics and World War II, not really anything else. Most Russians lack appreciation for Russia and have a fascination with America, Italy or Spain.

 

For some reason I forgot to mention that Valuev is often in really stupid TV commercials, so he's pretty famous but for the wrong reasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4wP8jVFGOs

I've also seen Kostya Tszyu in a couple of commercials, and they sometimes interview him in pre-fights on the main boxing channel.

 

Tons of good Russian prospects with solid amateur backgrounds are in the early stages of their pro careers right now, even the ones without backing by major promoters and such. With this being an Olympic year we can expect that even more will turn pro before/after. The Russian and ex-Soviet takeover is coming :hey

In Russia with some lower level promoters you have prospects being matched tougher than normal with guys fighting 10 rounders with less than 5 fights against fellow undefeated prospects. For insance with Aram Amirkhanyan he fought 2012 Uzbek Olympian Uktamjon Rakhmonov in his 4th pro fight, 10 rounds. Another decent Russian amateur Petros Ananyan fought and drew with Rakhmonov over 8 rounds in his 6th fight, having previously taken ******k Tamrazyan's undefeated 10-0 record in just his 4th fight.

In America you have Besputin, Dadashev, Butaev and others who have recently turned over. Butaev qualified for Rio through WSB but the Russians opted to go with Andrey Zamkovoy instead.

Not only guys with good amateur backgrounds but you also have kickboxers crossing over with the more recent ones being Lipinets and Alexey Papin, and Troyanovsky having won a world title.

Many fighters from other countries have also been fighting under the Russian flag like Stanislav Kashtanov, Alexander Ustinov, Dilmurod Satybaldiev.

We could go on for days about this. The future is only getting brighter.

 

Some of these arent really russian so its probably a bit hard to rally around people who would rather or under certain circumstances gain independance.

Otherwise im a little surprised no one really knows who their fighters are.

Italy and Spain, interesting. Why ?

The warm weather maybe..

 

One word : CULTURE...:good