By Alexey Sukachev

20-year old light welterweight Aik “The Humanoid” Shakhnazarian (8-0, 2 KOs) has a very huge test in front of him in early November, while being a part of a huge Oleg Maskaev vs. Corey Sanders local event. Shakhnazarian, who turned pro just a year ago will be checked very hard by capable veteran Alisher Rakhimov (25-2, 12 KOs) of Uzbekistan, who is 15 years his senior. The fight has been confirmed tonight by Nikolay Baklanov, the vice-president of Kirill Pchelnikov’s promotional company.

While Shakhnazarian of Samara has never fought a legit threat, Rakhimov is somewhat very different. Once a stellar amateur, he got several big wins over ranked opponents as a pro, including local stalwarts Stanislav Merdov, Oleg Yefimovich and Vyacheslav Gusev, world-rated contenders Sergio Thompson, Saddam Kietyongyuth and Rustam Nugaev. In his last fight he dropped a DQ to Denis Shafikov in a rugged fight.