By Phil Rivera of boxingtribune.com<\/p>\n
While the eyes of the sporting world are currently glued to the winter games in Sochi; two Russian boxers prepare to square off in the 2014 Boxcino Tournament. On February 21, live on ESPN, lightweight Fedor Papazov (14-0, 9 KOs) takes on Petr Petrov (32-4-2, 15 KOs) in the opening round of the single-elimination tournFedor Papazovey.<\/p>\n
The fight is a major step-up in competition for Papazov, whose pro career does not yet compare to his extensive amateur one. From 2005 to 2008, Papazov competed in competitions like the European Olympic Qualifiers, World Championships and Russian Nationals. And he\u2019ll need every bit of that experience against an opponent who\u2019s had 24 more pro fights than he has; including one against welterweight champion Marcos Maidana.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a lot of amateur experience, so I\u2019m not too worried about my opponent. We are both Russian so I know it will be a great fight,\u201d said Papazov.<\/p>\n
In an era where promoters bring their prospects along slowly; placing one in a bracket filled with hungry counterparts is risky. Still, the 28-year-old is grateful for the opportunity to showcase his skills on national television.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Manager Vadim Kornilov proposed the idea to me and I loved it. I think it\u2019s a great tournament that is the fast track to test yourself and prove yourself,\u201d Papazov said.<\/p>\n
Papazov is the stable mate of one of the hottest fighters in the world today, 140-pound champion Ruslan Provodnikov. But before the \u201cSiberian Rocky\u201d could star on HBO, he had to make his name on ESPN\u2019s \u201cFriday Night Fights\u201d. Papazov wants to take a similar road to success.<\/p>\n
\u201cRuslan and I are friends, and I know that I have to follow the same career path, which is through ESPN, to get to where I want to go,\u201d said Papazov.\u201d<\/p>\n
The self-proclaimed brawler hopes to make the most of his new found exposure and put on a show for the American audience; but more importantly, he\u2019d like to take home the Boxcino title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know everyone will see me, because ESPN is one of the biggest networks out there,\u201d said Papazov. \u201cBut winning would be everything I ever dreams of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While the eyes of the sporting world are currently glued to the winter games in Sochi; two Russian boxers prepare to square off in the 2014 Boxcino Tournament. On February 21, live on ESPN, lightweight Fedor Papazov (14-0, 9 KOs) takes on Petr Petrov (32-4-2, 15 KOs) in the opening round of the single-elimination tournFedor Papazovey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[196],"class_list":["post-6801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-fedor-papazov"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6801"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6836,"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6801\/revisions\/6836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banner-promotions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}