With a growing stable of boxers that include Olympic champions, former professional champions and championship contenders, Vadim Kornilov has established himself as one of the top managers in the sport of boxing. Boxers such as Ruslan Provodnikov and Viktor Postol have made stateside appearances on HBO within the past year and made a lasting impression to fight fans all around the world.
Vadim took time out of his busy schedule to sit down with me and discuss the future of some of his boxers. Here's what he had to say:
Vadim, one of your more well known boxers- Viktor Postol, burst
onto the scene in May and made a lasting impression to American viewers with
his knockout of Selcuk Aydin on HBO. He was a regular at Freddy Roaches Wild
Card gym in preparation for his big bout with Aydin, is the plan for him to
continue training at Wild Card for the time being?
VK: Definitely, he will be preparing for his next fight at
Wild Card with the same training team once the fight is scheduled.
After his fight with Selcuk Aydin, Postol stated he was ready
for anybody in the stacked lightweight division, most notably, he said he was
ready to take on Danny Garcia and challenge for the 140lb throne. Viktor is the
WBC mandatory to champion Danny Garcia, has there been any word or whispers by
the WBC as to when exactly they will mandate a purse bid for a potential
Garcia-Postol matchup?
VK: The WBC has announced publicly on August 12th
that the mandatory is announced and that Danny Garcia has to defend his title
against Viktor Postol. On September 12th
the purse bid has been scheduled. Elite
Boxing Promotions of Ukraine together with Top Rank are in contact with Golden
Boy Promotions about the fight.
There have been rumors for quite some time about champion Danny
Garcia moving up to the welterweight division, based on the WBC rankings,
Viktor Postol and tough Argentinean Lucas Matthysse would be next in line to
fight for the vacant title. If that opportunity came about, would that be
something you would pursue for Viktor?
VK: Definitely, we are as interested in matching Viktor Postol up
with Lucas Matthysse as we are in matching him up with Danny Garcia. We like both fights.
Ruslan Provodnikov made big splashes within the last year with
his terrific performances on HBO and instantly became a fan favorite and
developed a cult-like following in the boxing community. His brutal honesty and
heart in the ring has captured the imagination of boxing fans worldwide. Will
“The Siberian Rocky” be reappearing on HBO this fall?
VK: Yes, definitely. That is the plan. HBO is working out a date for Ruslan together
with our promoters Banner Promotions and GT Promotions. We cannot have Ruslan be out of the ring for
too long like the previous 10 months lay off before the Algieri fight, so we
have to make sure our fighter is being taken care of.
Blistering hot prospect and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Egor
Mekhonstev is another fighter with a very bright future. Since starting his
career in December of last year he has had four fights and is already scheduled
back in the ring next month in Texas. Do you prefer your fighters who have deep
amateur pedigrees, like Egor, to gradually increase the level of opposition
each time they fight or do you prefer to wait after a certain number of fights
and just focus on activity first and then start to step them up?
VK: No, I definitely want to gradually increase their experience
level fight after fight, and you will see that on September 6th Egor
will already be fighting an 8 rounder with a much better opponent than
before. We had some problems with
opponents in the previous fight which was already planned to be a much better
opponent that it was.
You also manage 2012 Olympian Taras Shelestyuk, another fighter
who has stayed active since turning pro in 2013. He has fought on ESPN since
making his pro debut last year. Will we be seeing him again in the near future?
VK: Taras will be back in the ring on September 26th
on a Thompson Boxing card in California in an 8 rounder with a good
opponent. After that Taras’s promoter
Banner Promotions has plans to put him into bigger fights and grow him on
ESPN.
Sukhrab Shidaev is one of your lesser-known prospects but
hardcore fight fans remember him from the World Series of Boxing in 2011. After
already signing a handful of former amateur stars, do you continue to actively
recruit fighters who are fighting at the amateur and semi-pro level, or do you
prefer to focus on recruiting boxers who have made the jump to prizefighting
and compete at the pro level?
VK: I am definitely interested in all boxers including progressed
professionals as well as amateurs. If
the boxers are hard workers and are willing to train in Los Angeles that is
enough reason for me to consider to work together with them and grow their
career.
Thank you
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