Ukrainian will enter the ring for the first time in the last 14 months
On January 28, at London’s Wembley Arena, 35-year-old Ukrainian Artem Dalakyan will defend his WBA bantamweight title for the sixth time. The Ukrainian will face 30-year-old boxer David Jimenez from Costa Rica. Announcing the fight Dalakyan – Jimenez, Sport Arena tells what risks the Ukrainian boxer will face in the fight against the Costa Rican puncher.
Long downtime
The last time Dalakyan entered the ring was in November 2021 – more than 14 months ago. For comparison, Jimenez had three fights in 2022 alone. A long downtime, especially considering Artem’s age, cannot but affect his actions in the ring. Plus, given the military due to Russia’s large-scale aggression against Ukraine last year, it’s hard to say how much Dalakyan managed to even keep in shape.
True, according to the boxer himself, there were difficulties with this only at the beginning of a full-scale Russian invasion. I trained every day and kept myself in shape. The war interfered with training only in the first two weeks, then I adjusted. I kept in shape,” said Dalakyan. But, let’s repeat the old truth: no, even the most intense training or sparring will replace the official fight.
Difficulties with preparation
The war made its own adjustments to the organization of the training camp before the battle. According to Dalakyan, many sparring partners refused to go to Ukraine. As a result, instead of the usual gathering in Koncha-Zaspa, the Ukrainian had to break up the camp into two parts: the first – to spend in the Carpathian region, the second – in Bulgaria.
“We held a special gathering in Bulgaria. There was the main preparation for the fight: shells, paws, work with a coach, sparring, ”said the Ukrainian.
Little experience of away matches
For Dalakyan, the fight with Jimenez is only the second fight outside of Ukraine. The first one was held by Artem back in 2018. Then, by the way, Dalakyan won the champion title, sensationally defeating Brian Viloria. Artem spent the next five fights exclusively in Kyiv
Not to say that Jimenez is an away boxer, but outside of Costa Rica he fought quite often. Of the 12 fights, seven – David spent in his native country, five – abroad. Yes, four out of five fights were in Panama, but still.
Age
Artem is five years older than his current opponent. Plus, the Ukrainian is already 35.5 years old – for the lightest weight, the age, if not critical, then definitely borderline. Reflexes, speed are falling, and given that these factors play a major role in this category, it will be difficult.
Yes, the boxing intelligence of the Ukrainian is very high and has not gone away. But, as we have seen more than once, this component alone is not enough to win.
Opponent Difficulty
Despite the fact that Jimenez had almost half as many fights in the professional ring as Dalakyan, one cannot call him an inexperienced opponent. Behind the Costa Rican is a serious amateur career that has included more than 300 fights, bronze medals at the World Championships and the Pan American Games.
Jimenez is hungry for victory and wants to climb to the top. Only in his first year as a pro, where he made his debut in 2019, David had six (!) fights. He is a powerful and assertive fighter, compensating for gaps in boxing education with pressure and strong punches. No wonder he completed nine out of 12 fights ahead of schedule. And we repeat once again: Jimenez is five years younger than Dalakyan.
The political background of the battle
Dalakyan vs Jimenez fight will take place on the undercard of the fight between WBC/WBO/IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev of Russia with a Canadian passport and Briton Anthony Yarde. We will not talk about the position of the sanctioning organizations that allowed this fight. Let’s just quote the words of Dalakyan, who, apparently, is also stressed by this situation.
“When we were offered the program, we were not told that this person would fight in the same program. I don’t even want to say his name. If we knew that this would be the case, then I and Yuri Yuryevich (Ruban is the president of the promotion company that handles Dalakyan’s affairs), we would have boxed sooner or later. There are often fights in England, we would not box this person on the undercard. Me, my team, the president of the club, we will not cross paths with these people. We don’t even want to see them. We will try to make it so that we will live in another hotel. My attitude to these people is closed, the question to this person is closed to me. I don’t even want to talk about this topic and cross paths with this person somewhere. For this person is friends with that person (Kadyrov – note). And that’s it, this topic is closed…”, said Artem.
Source: Sportarena
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
