Almost a month into 2022, Russia will welcome its first pugilistic event of the year this Saturday at the RCC Boxing Academy in Ekaterinburg, Russia, where veteran competitors Fedor Papazov and Akzhol Sulaimanbek Uulu will clash for a vacant minor World Boxing Council Asian Boxing Council lightweight title.

Papazov, 36, is a long-time local contender, who is best known for losing to Vasyl Lomachenko in one of preliminary rounds of 2007 Chicago world amateur championship, where Fedor represented Greece, his ethnic homeland.

There were certain expectations about Papazov before his professional debut but over the years The Knockout Man mostly failed to realize them. At 36, Papazov (23-4, 14 KOs) is in the twilights of his pro career, and this fight can be his last run for glory.

Kyrgyzstan-born Akzhol Sulaimanbek Uulu (16-1, 9 KOs) made his name by fighting at an adopted hometown of Ekaterinburg under the RCC/German Titov banner. Debuting in 2016, Akzhol, 31, had his share of solid wins but lost decisively – by a stoppage – to world-ranked super featherweight and teammate Mark Urvanov in his penultimate fight.

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Al Siesta of the Siesta Boxing will combine his efforts with former WBO heavyweight world title challenger Alexander Zolkin of the Art City to present a huge card on February 3 in Moscow, Russia. The 15-bout event will be held at the hotbed of Moscow boxing – the legendary USC “Krilya Sovetov” (aka The Soviet Wings) – and will be aired by MatchTV and Boets fighting channel.

Headlining the event are brothers Evgueny and Mikhail Dovgolevets, both representing Belarus. Brothers started their pro careers simultaneously at the very beginning of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemics, and both are wrecking balls despite very late starts due to prolonged and extensive amateur careers.

Evgueny, aged 30, competes at the light welterweight limit. Starting his career with three consecutive first-round stoppages over non-descript opposition, he then scored a split decision over 19-1-1 Georgy Chelokhsaev and added veteran Fedor Papazov’s name (22-3 at the time) to his resume after that. Two more wins ran his record to solid 7-0, with 4 KOs. Evgueny Dovglolevets fights experienced Argentinean journeyman Jonathan Jose Eniz (27-16-1, 11 KOs) over ten. Eniz had wins over 21-1 Deniz Ilbay and 48-2 former IBF titlist Cesar Rene Cuenca in his past.

Mikhail, 31, a bigger, more severely punching middleweight southpaw, has been less active and his resume isn’t very deep at this point. He is 5-0, with 5 KOs, however, and he will also be featured in a scheduled ten-rounder. Mikhail Dovgolevets’ opponent is another Argentinean Victor Hugo Exner (7-8-1, 2 KOs), a fighter with a mediocre record but some wins recently, including a solid one – over 15-1-1 Ramon Matias Lovera in his ultimate fight this past December.

The third ten-rounder of the event will see a light heavyweight showdown between local puncher Nikita Solonin (4-1-1, 4 KOs) and Indian import Arun Antil (8-3-1, 5 KOs).

Several more notable names will be presented in the undercard. Once-rated Georgy Chelokhsaev (19-2-1, 12 KOs) missed over a year after his loss to Evgueny Dolgolevets in November 2020. He will be back in an eight-rounder versus Uzbek import Mukhammadsalim Sotyvoldiev (7-5-2, 3 KOs).

In the other eight-rounder, well-travelled light middleweight Abilkhayr Shegaliev (8-0, 4 KOs), who was born in Uzbekistan, possesses the Kazakh citizenship and fought previously in Russia, Ghana, UAE, Thailand and Kazakhstan, will break his own two-year long lay-off against bigger Magomed Magomedov (3-1, 1 KO). Other fights are scheduled for six or less rounds.

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February 5 is a new date of an intriguing middleweight match-up between veteran Russian competitor Andrey Sirotkin (19-1-1, 7 KOs), rated #14 by the WBC, and IBF #13 / WBC #17 ranked Kazakhstani Meiirim Nursultanov (15-0, 8 KOs).

The bout will serve as the main event of the show, promoted by Zhanpeiis Nazargali of the ADAL Promotions at the western Kazakhstan’s city of Aktau. The show will be the first in Kazakhstan after the recent widespread unrest across the state.

Sirotkin, 36, had some solid wins in his past, including one over flamboyant former champion Ricardo Mayorga, as well as those over Geard Ajetovic and Ryan Ford. He lost some steam following a stoppage loss to John Ryder in 2018. In his most recent fight, Sirotkin scored a road draw versus undefeated Brit Danny Dignum. Nursultanov (15-0, 8 KOs), 28, competed mostly overseas prior the pandemics but scored his biggest win – a decision over tough Russian Artur Osipov – well, in Russia. A vacant WBO International title will be at stake in this fight.

There will be several more interesting match-ups in the card. One, which can capture some attention, is a bout between Bekman Soylybayev (12-1, 4 KOs) and Mexico’s Eliot Chavez (10-3-1, 6 KOs), scheduled for eight.

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Promising Russian light middleweight Sergey Vorobiev (15-1, 10 KOs) is presently in a training camp, preparing for a possible next fight in March.

“We are presently training in the mountains of Caucasus, near the Mount Elbrus. The whole team is here. Sergey Vorobiev, Ruslan Fayfer, Alexander Devyatov and Vladimir Mironenko are all scheduled to fight next in March. We don’t know yet if they are to compete within a single show or will be divided between a couple of them with a week in between”, said Vorobiev’s trainer Anton Kadushin to Allboxing.ru.

Meanwhile, Sergey Vorobiev, also known as the Sparrow Jr. (Vorobey means exactly that in Russian), was quite vocal in his brief with Allboxing, particularly throwing verbal jabs at his previous opponents Konstantin Ponomarev and Karen Chukhadzhyan.

“I heard he’d told someone about a comeback for a possible rematch with me”, said Vorobiev about Ponomarev. “What will he say about his arm tattoo, where hang-up gloves are depicted? He surrendered and he has been mentally broken for quite a time. Now he has won over another tomato can. He wants to fight me? Whenever he wants to but take off your tattoo with a razor first”.

Vorobiev (then 6-0) scored an upset ten-round decision over 34-0 Ponomarev to capture the Russian welterweight title in July 2018.

“Where is Karen Chukhadzhyan? I heard he is fighting somewhere in Germany, in some kind of hangar. Who is Karen Chukhadzhyan? No one knows him. There’s about five men who know something about Karen. There’s just no reason for me to fight him, no one is really excited about him and his fights. I’m really not interested in his career and I don’t know any people who are [interested]”, said Vorobiev, who lost a split decision to then 15-1 Chukhadzhyan in February 2020.

Sergey Vorobiev is solid 5-0, 3 KOs, in 2021, including wins over Breidis Prescott and former WBA interim welterweight titlist Diego Gabriel Chaves.