The 2016 Olympic champion, the best heavyweight boxer, Evgeny Tishchenko, gave us a great interview. Evgeny analyzed his last fight against Yves Ngabu, named possible opponents in the upcoming fights, evaluated the performance of the Russians at the World Championship and predicted a possible fight between Tyson Fury and Alexander Usik.
“I watched the fight with Ngabu again and I have even more confidence in my victory”
– Eugene, have you already reviewed the fight with Ngabu? Did you find out what worked and what didn’t work? Yeah, I saw him right after the fight. Twice.
“Right after the fight?” – The next day. In pursuit. A lot of things didn’t work out in this fight. I rate my work as average. It’s not all bad, but it certainly could have been so much better.
– Ngabu surprised you in this fight? – Your professionalism. Always follow your own style. Well, it was extremely difficult to find training partners for him.
– Can you draw any analogy with your fight with Mchunu? – To be honest, completely different opponents, both stylistically and physically. Mchunu is a faster boxer while Ngabu is a stronger boxer.
– After the fight, you said that you were more confident in your victory than in his. After reviewing the fight, do you still have the same opinion? “I became even more confident in my victory. The first half of the fight completely stayed with me. Then somewhere I got tired, I missed him. The failure in the middle rounds was in the sixth, seventh and eighth. I lost there, yes. 9th and 10th are close. Even if I gave him the ninth, the tenth stayed with me, he did nothing. At worst 6:4 rounds in my favor, at best 7:3. The judges were shocked: one gave me eight rounds, the other gave Ngabu nine rounds, this is ridiculous. Especially give him nine rounds, because he lost the entire first half of the fight.
Alexey Tishchenko
Photo: RIA Novosti
– Magomed Kurbanov, who competed after you, also had a close fight. He agrees to give Soro revenge. Are you ready to fight Ngabu again or is this already a milestone? – Magomed had a qualifying fight, the winner goes to the title fight. We have with Ngabu only an ordinary qualifying fight, he did not use any status. If there is a need for a rematch, I will show myself better than in the first fight.
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“Priority option – fight Tishchenko – Egorov”
— One of his potential opponents is former world title contender Alexei Egorov. Have you already had a chat with his team? – On Saturday there will be a boxing tournament in Yekaterinburg, where I will speak with German Titov. Let’s talk about plans. There were no conversations yet, I was recovering. So I think we’ll tune in to Yegorov.
Are you interested in a duel with him? – Certainly. Now it is very difficult with the opposition, it is difficult to find a good competitive boxer because of the political situation. And the fight with Yegorov is interesting from a sporting point of view. Two stylistically different fighters, both from Russia, and both are in the ratings.
– Can we say that the victory over Yegorov will open title prospects for you? – He is number three in the WBA ranking. This fight is probably more important to me than it is to him. But I’m also in the top 15, top ten of the BoxRec rankings. Therefore, this fight should be interesting for him.
– Last year they tried to arrange fights with two Cubans – Mike Perez and Yunier Dorticos. Why didn’t the fights take place and is there any chance you’ll share the ring with them? – In fact, we negotiate with both. It could not be organized due to injuries, both Cubans were injured. Time passes, the situation changes, plans change. They still have an interest in fighting me in Russia, but I understand that now the priority option for me is Yegorov.
— Are you interested in meeting Cubans yourself? – Certainly. We were chasing ratings goals, so we wanted to put together a fight with Dorticos, the WBA’s number one. So if I win, I’ll have good title prospects.
– It turns out that now Egorov will replace Dorticos in this regard? – Maybe. The fight with Alexei is very important, he is up in the ranking. Also, this fight is easier to organize, we are both from Russia.
“Magi doesn’t stand a chance with me”
– In early March, you were a spectator at a boxing tournament, where Ivan Shtyrkov and Magomed Ismailov fought in the main event. You said you’d like to fight the winner. Do you really want to fight Maga or is it more for the hype? – It doesn’t mean that I really want this fight. It’s just popular right now. If there is such an opportunity, why not? It is very popular, gaining views. Previously, no one was chasing opinions, they were chasing the sports component. Now on the contrary: the sports component becomes less. But it seems to me that the fight with Maga is irrelevant now. I am still an active athlete, I set myself sports goals: I want to become a world champion.
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– If this fight takes place, does Magomed Ismailov have a chance? – None. What are the possibilities? Let them organize a fight first and then we’ll see. I don’t want to be sprayed into some dubious adventures right now. Still, I position myself as a top-level boxer. Of course, after the bland fights, there’s some question about that, but I think at my weight I’m competitive at the highest level.
– You also said about the fist that you were ready to perform. Is this also an adventure? – The cam is the easiest way. No special sports skills are needed here, this is more for adrenaline seekers. In boxing, for example, you can’t just want to compete without any preparation, nothing will work. Yes, MMA fighters, for example, do this, but they mostly fight each other. And in a fight with a professional boxer, they have very little chance. In the fist, the chances are equal for everyone: the Olympic champion and the street kid. If there is any interesting proposal, I am ready. But it’s also amazing.
Alexey Tishchenko
Photo: RIA Novosti
– Did you watch the World Championship as a boxer with a great amateur background? What can you say? – I even flew to see the semifinals and finals. I cared about our athletes.
– Satisfied with the results? “The boys did very well. Two golds, four bronzes. Considering that there were many problems, there was no international travel, it was mainly within the country. Once we went to an international tournament in Morocco before the World Cup, this is very little. Therefore, they are great. Separately, I am happy for Muslim Gadzhimagomedov, who became a two-time world champion.
– The final was very tense… – This is the final of the World Cup, it couldn’t be any other way. The fight is hard, the opponent is good. Muslim played through injuries, but managed to win.
– Muslim, by the way, began to act professionally. Maybe one day we will see the fight between the 2016 Olympic champion and the 2020 Olympic medalist? “Not anytime soon, that’s for sure. I think Muslim still has the goal of winning the Olympics. The question is whether Russian athletes will go to the Olympics, but I think Muslim now has other priorities.
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“I bet on Fury. But Usyk should not be underestimated either.”
– The most discussed fight of the last days is Devin Haney against Vasily Lomachenko. What can you say about the fight? To be honest, I didn’t look. I turned on the live broadcast, but due to the tight schedule, I did not wait for the fight. The next day I turned on a lousy repeater, watched two rounds, and turned it off. Interestingly, many write that Vasily lost in the first half of the battle. And I liked it even in the first two rounds. You can see that he is hungry, that there is fire in his eyes and that he is in good shape. I’m definitely going to watch the whole fight.
– In heavyweight they have not yet managed to organize the fight that everyone is waiting for: Tyson Fury – Alexander Usyk. If it is nevertheless carried out, whose side is the advantage and who will win? – I think they will agree on financial terms and fight, especially since the sheikhs are ready to pay well. How the fight will turn out is difficult to predict. I’m probably leaning towards Fury. He is bigger in size, he confidently performs at the highest level. But Usyk should not be underestimated. He is fast, technical, he uses his data well. In the fight with Joshua, few people believed in him, and Alexander defeated him twice and confidently.
Alexey Tishchenko
Photo: RIA Novosti
Speaking of Joshua. They are also trying to set up a high profile fight with Deontay Wilder. Who do you see as the favorite in this fight? – This is going to be a very competitive and interesting fight. And I read that they want to organize these two fights in one show. If this happens, we will see the greatest tournament of the century: all the strongest heavyweights will face each other in one show.
– While determined, Fury constantly receives calls from MMA stars: Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou. It is clear that these fights are unlikely to take place, but in theory, do representatives of mixed martial arts have a chance? – To be honest, I don’t really follow the UFC, I mainly just watch our guys. But when they write that Ngannou wants to try his hand at boxing and immediately calls Wilder and Fury, this is ridiculous. A UFC fighter can’t be competitive in boxing at this level, just like a boxer can’t be competitive in a cage at a high level.
Why are MMA representatives practicing boxing so often lately? Boxers don’t run to the cage… – In boxing there have always been more fees, boxing stars received more than MMA stars. So I think it’s purely financial.
