Russian fighter Alexander Shlemenko in an interview with , he explained what mistake he made in the first fight against his compatriot Anatoly Tokov.
The fight, which took place at the Bellator tournament in New York in 2018, ended with Tokov winning by unanimous decision. The rematch will take place on December 14 in Yekaterinburg during the RCC tournament.
— What mistakes did you make during the first fight with Tokov?
— My biggest mistake is mental. I let myself relax by this demonstration of respect. Basically nonsense. I allowed myself to relax, thinking that such poor organization had brought two Russians together, that they would have done it on purpose. No doubt, you can laugh at me, say: “You are so old, but you believe it. » But I judge for myself, I am a kind person, with an open soul. I thought people treated me that way too.
– And if we look at it as a professional fight: they went out, fought and separated. What is the wickedness here?
“If I tell you that I respect Fedor Emelianenko, then even if they offer me two million dollars to fight with him, I will refuse. If you really respect a person, you won’t fight. When they say, “We respect you,” you automatically start respecting yourself too. And when you respect, it’s hard for you to beat a person, it’s hard to get in the mood. How can you go out and fight with respect?
– But you say that you will accept a fight with Vladimir Mineev?
“We will now reach certain levels of respect: you respect this as a master, that as a person.” Let’s take the same Oleg Taktarov. If they had offered me a fight with him, I wouldn’t have gone out either, even though we had a specific misunderstanding, I went after him. But at the same time, I have respect for him as a person who, at one time, was an example for me. The story with Mineev is purely sporting. We’re in a situation where our industry is facing sanctions and things like that. We are forced to create interesting confrontations ourselves. What other large-scale confrontation can take place in Russia?
—Would it mean anything to you if Emelianenko ended up in Tokov’s corner?
– That doesn’t mean anything at all. If Fedor had come out instead of him, it might have meant something. So what? – Shlemenko told .
Watch live broadcasts of MMA tournaments on and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
More sports news in our telegram channel .
Source : MatchTV
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.
