What was that
A boxing tournament was held in Omsk, where the enumeration of participants might sound like the narration of a dream. Alexey Tishchenko, who won gold at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, staged an exhibition fight 11 years after his last fight in amateur boxing. Tishchenko said that for a significant part of the 11 years he did not even participate in fights.
Bruce Khlebnikov (you could see him if you turned on the TV somewhere between 1997 and 2005), a man who ripped through thick books with his hands and inflated heating pads, for some reason had to box against Pavel Shulsky, a master of the sport in boxing, known for fighting with bare fists.
Professional MMA fighter (14-5) Mikhail Mokhnatkin could fight with sambist Ivan Shtyrkov (20-2 in MMA). 36 hours before the fight, Shtyrkov could not agree on something with the organizers, said he was being disrespected, got on a train and left for Yekaterinburg. The basic kickboxer Islam Karimov came to replace him. Karimov was taking a steam bath when he was offered to take one of the last planes from Moscow to Omsk to fight. Detail: Karimov flew on the same flight as Alexei Tishchenko’s rival, but Neomar Sermeno (27-8 in boxing) somehow ended up in Tyumen and ended up in Omsk on the day of the fight, having spent three or four days on the way.
In the main event, boxer Alexei Papin (13-1) knocked out Dilan Prasovich at 2:36 a.m. local time. Denis Lebedev, biathlete Alexander Tikhonov and Alexander Shlemenko, who did not sleep, watched this from the front rows arrived in Omsk. Papin pierced the body of the opponent and for a long time accepted congratulations in the ring.
Alexey Tishchenko, who opened the card, was released much faster.
What Tishchenko said
– You won the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and officially ended your career in February 2011. How is it to fight after an 11-year break?
– It is clear that after such a downtime, all feelings are a bit dulled. Of course, it was not easy to return them.
– Before you start preparing for this fight, when was the last time you fought?
– My last fight dates back to 2011, I seriously prepared for it and I fought. And after that, he did not hinder himself. He kept in shape, but didn’t spar. He beat his paws, did physical training, could play tag or do distance exercises in pairs, but all without hard contact.
– At the beginning of 2022, could you assume that you would lead this fight?
Not at the start of the year. Probably, we entered into negotiations for 2-3 months, I understood, I thought we could try. And a month and a half before the tournament, he finally accepted.
Why did you accept?
– The main factor was that this fight was in Omsk. And I tried to stand in pairs, I realized that nothing was lost in the end, we can get fit. I checked how the body tolerates stress. I realized it’s tough, it’s difficult, but anything can be done.
– You said that you were preparing for Kislovodsk and it was difficult. Have you ever thought about changing your mind during preparation?
– The fight was tough. I can tell the opponent didn’t hit as hard as [оппоненты] in some fights. He flew and stronger. But there was no question of refusing.
– Were you nervous?
– No, I was not nervous at all today, I do not know why.
– I was told that your opponent could not fly to the last and only appeared today. Were you afraid that it wouldn’t come to the end?
– There was an experiment, if there will be time. Because there was a press conference in Moscow, then we recorded a video, then there was an official weigh-in in Omsk… But it still doesn’t exist. It’s already fight day, and he’s still going. It seems to me that only three hours before the start of the tournament, I was told that he seemed to have arrived. I was already going to the arena, and Vladimir Khryunov wrote to me that everything, he was going to the hotel.
– Once, you didn’t become pro because of a neck injury, but why did you agree to box now?
– Indeed, I have a protrusion at the level of the cervical spine. It cannot be cured, but it can be stabilized. I don’t know, maybe a long break had an effect, but there weren’t such painful sensations as before. During the preparation, after the sparring, it was unpleasant, but it didn’t bother me too much.
Are you sure there won’t be another fight?
– Yes I am sure. 100%.
– Are you sad?
– About what? What is the last fight? Actually no. When you’ve been boxing for a long time and you have to decide it’s over, it’s hard. And when you haven’t been training for a long time, and then you went out once, it’s a bit different. There is no particular sadness. It’s good that the last fight of my career took place in my hometown.
Will you be training in the future?
– Not. Why? I will train as before, I will do general physical preparation, but without sparring.
Tishchenko ended his career the day before his 38th birthday.
What did Bruce Khlebnikov say?
Again: Bruce Khlebnikov is indeed the same boy who appeared on the Zero Years video and was written about being able to “tear 365 restless wall calendars” or “move a military plane strapped to his hair” . His teammate Alexander Volkov Maxim Bulakhtin speaks of Bruce with warmth, but Khlebnikov himself is now more passionate about the fight. This time he won the winner of the Russian tournaments, the master of sports in boxing Pavel Shulsky, and the referee stopped the fight in the third round. Bruce was struggling.
“We need more breath, more endurance, it’s in sparring to train… We need to train more,” Khlebnikov said of the reasons for the failure. – I am a little bored. I have a hit. I have enough technology. Not enough gasoline. I’m like a Ferrari, I just need gas to accelerate.
– It seems that it would be boring for you to train twice a day, like professional athletes?
– Two training sessions a day, it’s not mine. For me, what’s great is once a day a full boxing workout and the next day a lighter or cardio workout. Here is something like that.
– You have already fought according to the rules of boxing, but with MMA gloves. Then they fought according to the rules of boxing. Any suggestions for hand to hand combat?
“We are not psychopaths and we fight for a reason. If I get paid well for fighting with boxing gloves, then it makes sense that I go out bare-handed. In theory, I don’t care who to fight with, I can do it with bare fists, it all depends on the cache.
– Where is the most adrenaline – when you did tricks or before fights?
– Adrenaline here, probably less. Because here I can at most fall in a knockout, and there I had loads on point. He sat on the string between two chairs and at the same time held the weight on himself of 240 kg. If my ligaments were torn or my pelvic bones were broken, it would be much worse than a knockout. Or when I pulled out 40 tons of hair with my hair, I could be disabled for life if the cervical vertebrae could not withstand it.
– Why did they leave the towers? Are they harder to monetize than fighting?
No, I’m just a bit lazy really. I have more potential than many in the YouTube space. I still have a certain sense of autonomy.
– You couldn’t break the heating pad when it was presented to you during the pre-fight show. Something went wrong ?
First of all, I haven’t done this for a long time. Second, people started saying they had to bring “their” heating pad. Never had “my” heating pads – I think now they just have a different quality. I took it in hand. And it’s like plastic is added to it, it’s a kind of oak tree.
– Ivan Shtyrkov left a day before the fight, saying the organizers treated him disrespectfully. Would it be interesting to fight him?
– I do not know exactly why the organizers, in his opinion, behaved badly. But, as far as I know, his fees haven’t changed. Why he did that, I don’t even know.
– Would you fight him according to the rules of boxing?
– Easily. I challenge Ivan Shtyrkov to fight, I will fight with him with pleasure. I have no aggression towards anyone, I am a man of the world. Purely sporting interest. I’ll catch my breath and be ready to go. I have a crushing blow, because Shulsky has even seduced in this moment. But he also planted me twice so that I thought there was no more electricity.
– You think your fight was stopped early?
– Actually, he hit me in the liver. But if the knockdown started counting, I’d get back up. I answer. I left relaxed. Many come out – they are on fire, they are so worried that they turn white. And I don’t care at all. I do not know why.
– You can say that such a defeat will motivate you, because it will become interesting for yourself what you are capable of in full form?
– It was so in my career that even when I became famous, I didn’t go there myself. I did all my power tricks because it was interesting for me. I didn’t do it for the money. And now I want to develop breathing for myself so I can chop the three rounds. Grow and test yourself. I can even go to the open ring for it or call Shulsky in the lobby and say, “Let’s cut ourselves.” And now I felt it. And I’ll drop Shulsky soon.
When would you like to fight next?
– Tomorrow. Yes, even today. I approached Mikhail Mokhnatkin at the hotel. I say, “Don’t worry that Shtyrkov is here [уехал]. I, if anything, here. I’m ready”.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
