Being in large part of Ukrainian descent I like to keep an eye on Ukrainian fighters. I somehow missed Sidorenko except for his battering from Donaire. Can anyone fill me in on this guy. What was he like in his prime? Ect.
Sidorenko first popped up on my radar when he beat Joseph Agbeko, who would beat up Luis Perez (who was Don King's favorite fighter in the lower weight classes back then) not long after. Although Sidorenko's win over Agbeko was very closely fought, the fact that he fought so evenly with someone who lopsidedly finished a guy as good as Perez indicated to me that Sidorenko was legitimate. Sidorenko lifted his title from Julio Zarate, who had had a Fight of the Year type war with Felix Machado. The three most significant fight of his title reign were a pair of draws against the notoriously difficult Ricardo Cordoba, and a win over Poonsawat Krattingagym. Sidorenko then lost his title to Anselmo Moreno, and lost even more narrowly in his attempt to reclaim it. That was a minor shock at the time since Moreno was little known, but he would eventually prove himself a pretty solid champ. Then Wladimir lost to Nonito Donaire, who was obviously the best fighter on his record. I would have been interested in seeing Sidorenko against guys like Darchinyan or Christian Mijares. A fight with Filipino Z Gorres would have been a good one too.
