The titled Russian athlete Alexei Papin is often called the “Russian Athlete”. He has won all the significant kickboxing awards. Then he retrained as a boxer, which was a surprise for many. Now his goal is to become the world boxing champion among professionals.
Biography
Alex was born in the suburbs (the city of Reutovo) in 1987.
He entered the sport at the age of seven - his father brought him to kickboxing. Alexei won the first battle at the competition, it became a powerful motivation to continue classes.
Alexey wasn’t always just kickboxing. In childhood and adolescence, he went through different sections. Among them were aikido, judo, game types (soccer hockey) and even gymnastics. But kickboxing was nevertheless closer to the young athlete, and he returned to the section.
The first training took place at the Peresvet training center in his hometown. Alexey recalls that sometimes I did not want to play sports at all. Then his father explained to him why systematicness is important, how to overpower himself and come back to the gym.
A. Papin with his parents.
In 1998, the first significant results of training appeared - Alex became the leader in the championship of the city. Then there were many more competitions at various levels. Although Papin wasn’t everywhere winners, there were enough victories, as well as the experience of such events. At the age of 14, Alexey participates in the Championship of the Armed Forces and becomes the winner.
A qualitative breakthrough in mastery occurred after the transition to adulthood. At one of the competitions, Alexei managed to defeat the master of sports by knockout, while he himself was in the status of a candidate. Among the spectators of the tournament was Viktor Ulyanich, who worked as a senior boxing coach at the CSKA sports school. Prospective Papin was invited to the club, where he underwent military service, and then remained on the contract.
World-class victories began with the athlete in 2007. Then Alex became the owner of the Kickboxing World Cup, held in Yalta (in the category up to 81 kg). Among his achievements:
- six victories in the championship of Russia;
- three times European champion (first heavyweight, WAKO version);
- kickboxing world champion (WAKO);
- championship belts from WAKO-Pro, ISKA, W5.
Professional sport
Papin began to comprehend the nuances of professional fights in his youth. At that time, Grigory Drozd came to his native Reutov for training. He was in the stage of transition to professional boxing, he was engaged under the guidance of the same trainer that he trained Alexei - Sergey Vasiliev. Since 2011, Drozd again began to act as a professional. In training, Alexey Papin worked with him as a sparring partner.
Then Alexey had other famous boxers in sparring. For example, in 2015 he was invited to the team of D. Kudryashov, and a month later he trained with A. Povetkin. Subsequently, the manager Povetkin will begin to do the same work for Alexei Papin.
Alesei Papin with his father after the first victory in professional boxing.
Since Alesay was still a kickboxer, all these numerous sparring with eminent athletes helped him a lot to put on the boxing technique. Kickboxers have little use of the body in the fight, since there is a great risk of getting a kick or knee from an opponent. At first, Alexey simply stopped using his legs, but quickly realized that this was not enough. He learned many differences and professional tricks from experienced fighters.
In the same 2015, Papin made his debut as a professional boxer. The beginning was successful - by technical knockout he laid S. Beloshapkin. The fighter’s style became distinctive - he acts aggressively and powerfully, most of his victories end with a knockout.
Papin also had experience playing in the 91+ weight category. But things went wrong, so the boxer returned to his usual first heavy category.
Having mastered a bit among Russian boxers, Papin goes international. For him, the Argentinean Sergio Angel became a dangerous rival at the beginning of this journey. He was very uncomfortable for Alexei, but the Russian boxer managed to “crush him”, and the fight ended ahead of schedule.
In 2018, Papin defeated the 35-year-old Shihepo (Namibia). After this fight, he became the IBF champion in his weight and got into the top 15 rating of this international federation.
Papin considers the hook to be his left, although the boxer is right-handed. But there was a period when the right arm was damaged. I had to deal with and practice the attacks mainly left. Since then, this is his "crown".
Now the athlete is being trained by Andrey Ivichuk.
