Ukraine’s most popular professional boxer after the Klitschko brothers, 31-year old Vinnytsia native Vyacheslav Uzelkov (23 fights 22 wins -14 by KO - 1 loss) , failed on July 23 to conquer the WBA world light heavyweight title on the ring of Tachi Palace and Casino in Lemoore, California.
After twelve rounds of boxing, all three judges nodded in favor of Kazakhstan-born Beibut Shumenov (10 – 6KO – 1loss). The score from Judge Ray Balewicz was 109-117 against the Ukrainian, while judges Ralph McKnight and Ignacio Robles both scored the fight a 108-118. This was the first mandatory title defense for the 26-year old Shumenov.
The Las Vegas-based Kazakh wonder kid went to the Guiness book as the professional world title holder with the shortest ever record. He won the title in his 10th professional fight with a record of 9 victories and one loss in January 2010, having beaten Spaniard Gabriel Campillo on the ring in Las Vegas.
Coached by New Zealand coach Kevin Barry, previously famous for managing the corner of the heavyweight megastar David Tua, Shumenov lives, breaths and sleeps boxing. Uzelkov’s hopes for Shumenov running out of gas in the second half of the fight never came true. The Kazakh came to defend his title in tremendous shape. He was hungrier, scrappier and more accurate than the Ukrainian in round 2.
This loss was particularly frustrating for Uzelkov, who became the first boxer ever to bring the Kazakh wonder kid to the canvas. In the end of round one, a left hook from Uzelkov sent Shumenov to the floor for the first time in his boxing career. But to the Kazakh’s merit, he swiftly jumped to his feet and was ready to continue the fight.
In round three, he managed to completely regain composure and initiative. The Kazakh’s right hand knocked down Uzelkov. The Kazakh warrior won all rounds thereafter.
“Honestly, my impression from watching their fight was that Uzelkov first saw Shumenov in the ring in Lemoore, California,” says distinguished Ukrainian TV host and boxing analyst Yuri Nesterenko. “Skillful and versatile in previous fights, Slava (Vyacheslav) was looking like a one-dimensional boxer, who put all his hopes on one solid punch. As a result, he was vastly outpunched, if not to say outhustled by the Kazakh, whose hands were flying. He threw something like 140 punches to Uzelkov’s 30 to 40. He did not have a plan B in place after hitting the canvas. That’s clear, because he did not have a plan A in the first place!”
“Slava’s style in this world title fight was lackluster and brainless,” agrees distinguished Ukrainian coach Mykhail Zavyalov. “His left jab was sluggish, his whole camp was a big mistake. How can you prepare at home, in Vinnytsia, for a fight in the USA against a boxer who lives and trains in Las Vegas?”
Before the fight late on July 23, Uzelkov was quoted in a documentary as saying: “I’m so happy to live with my wife and son in my native Vinnytsia. I’m so deeply rooted here!”
Amazingly enough, half of the promotional flop was about Uzelkov’s success in… ball room dancing in the all-Ukrainian TV show “I’m dancing for you!,” which made Uzelkov extremely popular with Ukraine’s population.
“He spent too much time dancing, having lost focus needed for the big fights,” said Yuri Barashian, another well known Ukrainian light heavyweight.The boxing rumor mill now has Feodosia’s Barashian touted as Shumenov’s next opponent. The scenario rings true. Barashian is today represents the stables of well-known Russian promoter Vladimir Khryunov, who is also promoting Russian heavyweight prospect Alexander Povetkin, and previously promoted Shumenov.
As for Slava Uzelkov, hard to see what lies ahead for him in the future. Having joined the K2 promotional power house of Klitschko brothers earlier this year, the loss was a big missed opportunity for him. It was his second boxing match outside of Ukraine, the first in 5 years and second in the USA.
As Norman Mailer once wrote: “A training camp was designed to manufacture one product – a fighter’s ego.”
As the author of The Fight knew from the horse’s mouth, big fighters always have a great ego, moving to the edge of human ability in Spartan conditions of boxing camps.For Vyacheslav Uzelkov’s boxing ego, several years of comfortable life in Ukraine could well mean that too much time was lost for building up the ego, and too much time was lost to get into strong enough shape to beat the likes of Shumenov!
“If he still has fuel in his tanks for another title shot, he should better forget all those TV shows,” Barashian concluded.
Dmytro Mossienko is chief editor of OILMARKET magazine, found at http://www.oilmarket-magazine.com. He can be reached at [email protected].
