| Denis Shafikov | |
| Realname: | Denis Fuatovich Shafikov |
| Nickname: | Genghis Khan |
| Weight: | |
| Height: | 1.65 m |
| Reach: | 174 cm |
| Nationality: | Russian |
| Birth Date: | 3 June 1985 |
| Birth Place: | Miass, Chelyabinsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Style: | Southpaw |
| Total: | 46 |
| Wins: | 40 |
| Ko: | 20 |
| Losses: | 4 |
| Draws: | 2 |
Denis Fuatovich Shafikov (Bashkir: Денис Фуат улы Шафиҡов|Denis Fuat ulı Şafiqov, Russian: Шафиков Денис Фуатович; born 3 June 1985) is a Russian professional boxer. He held the European super-lightweight title from 2011 to 2013, and has challenged three times for the IBF lightweight title. In November 2017, Shafikov was ranked within the world's top ten active lightweights by The Ring magazine, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and BoxRec.
Born into a Bashkir family, Shafikov did not immediately take a liking to boxing when trying out different sports in childhood. He nonetheless began his amateur boxing career at 13 years old, in which he had "about 90 amateur fights and lost only 6 of them." His decision to turn professional was based on wanting to earn money for his family, rather than medals.[1]
Shafikov has been trained by Abel Sanchez since 2015.[2] He made his professional debut on 30 November 2003, winning a four-round unanimous decision over Pavel Lyakhov, who also debuted. For the next eleven years, Shafikov would remain undefeated while fighting mainly in Finland, having moved there in 2007.[1] On 29 October 2010, he fought to a majority draw against Brunet Zamora, with the regional WBA Inter-Continental light-welterweight title on the line. A year later, on 23 September 2011, Shafikov won his first major regional championship—the European light-welterweight title—by forcing veteran contender Giuseppe Lauri to retire in his corner.[3] Two successful defences of the title were made in 2012: the first was against Lee McAllister on 25 February, which ended in an eighth-round corner retirement.[4] The second was a rematch with Zamora on 31 May, which Shafikov won via unanimous decision.[5]
On 22 February 2014, Shafikov travelled to Macau to face IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vázquez. In what was described as a "lightweight title fight that completely sucked the air out of [the] venue" due to "clinching, headbutts and lots of other matters that don't quite reflect actual fighting", Vázquez went on to hand Shafikov his first professional loss in a lacklustre unanimous decision.[6]
The following year, on 18 December, Shafikov received another opportunity to fight for the vacant IBF lightweight title, this time against Rances Barthelemy, but lost again via unanimous decision.[7]
Shafikov returned on 2 July 2016 in emphatic style, beating down and stopping undefeated lightweight prospect Jamel Herring in the tenth and final round.[8]
On 30 June 2017, in his third world title challenge, Shafikov lost a competitive unanimous decision against IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr., in a hard-hitting slugfest.[9] The scorecards read 120-108, 120-108 and 116-112 in favour of Easter Jr.[10]
In his next bout, Shafikov faced Rene Alvarado, who was ranked #10 by the WBA at super featherweight. Shafikov lost the fight via split decision.[11]
Despite his nickname of "Genghis Khan", Shafikov is of Bashkir rather than Mongol ethnicity. The nickname was given to him by his Finnish promoter Pekka Mäki, with Shafikov saying that he wants to "conquer the world as Genghis Khan did." His favourite boxers include Mike Tyson and Manny Pacquiao.[1]
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46 | Draw | 40–4–2 | Gaybatulla Gadzhialiev | MD | 10 | 9 Feb 2019 | |||
| 45 | Win | 40–4–1 | Jhon Gemino | UD | 10 | 21 Jul 2018 | |||
| 44 | Win | 39–4–1 | Hector Ruben Ambriz Suarez | UD | 8 | 6 Jun 2018 | |||
| 43 | Loss | 38–4–1 | René Alvarado | SD | 10 | 9 Dec 2017 | |||
| 42 | Loss | 38–3–1 | Robert Easter Jr. | UD | 12 | 30 Jun 2017 | |||
| 41 | Win | 38–2–1 | Richard Commey | 12 | 7 Dec 2016 | ||||
| 40 | Win | 37–2–1 | Jamel Herring | TKO | 10 (10), | 2 Jul 2016 | |||
| 39 | Loss | 36–2–1 | Rances Barthelemy | UD | 12 | 18 Dec 2015 | |||
| 38 | Win | 36–1–1 | Roy Mukhlis | TKO | 3 (10), | 17 Jul 2015 | |||
| 37 | Win | 35–1–1 | Miguel Angel Mendoza | UD | 8 | 13 Dec 2014 | |||
| 36 | Win | 34–1–1 | Rustam Nugaev | TKO | 9 (12), | 15 Aug 2014 | |||
| 35 | Loss | 33–1–1 | Miguel Vázquez | UD | 12 | 22 Feb 2014 | |||
| 34 | Win | 33–0–1 | Santos Benavides | TKO | 7 (10), | 17 Aug 2013 | |||
| 33 | Win | 32–0–1 | Alisher Rahimov | 11 (12), | 16 Mar 2013 | ||||
| 32 | Win | 31–0–1 | Albert Mensah | UD | 12 | 1 Dec 2012 | |||
| 31 | Win | 30–0–1 | James Onyango | UD | 8 | 18 Sep 2012 | |||
| 30 | Win | 29–0–1 | Brunet Zamora | UD | 12 | 31 May 2012 | |||
| 29 | Win | 28–0–1 | Lee McAllister | RTD | 8 (12), | 25 Feb 2012 | |||
| 28 | Win | 27–0–1 | Giuseppe Lauri | RTD | 8 (12), | 23 Sep 2011 | |||
| 27 | Win | 26–0–1 | Nugzar Margvelashvili | TKO | 5 (8), | 4 Mar 2011 | |||
| 26 | Draw | 25–0–1 | Brunet Zamora | 12 | 29 Oct 2010 | ||||
| 25 | Win | 25–0 | Peter Semo | UD | 8 | 4 Sep 2010 | |||
| 24 | Win | 24–0 | Leonardo Resendiz | RTD | 6 (8), | 22 Jul 2010 | |||
| 23 | Win | 23–0 | Bobir Normatov | KO | 1 (8), | 30 Jun 2010 | |||
| 22 | Win | 22–0 | Fernando Trejo | UD | 12 | 24 Oct 2009 | |||
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Aliaksei Volchan | TKO | 2 (10), | 25 Sep 2009 | |||
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | John Cotterill, Jr. | TKO | 1 (8), | 30 May 2009 | |||
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Juan Carlos Rodriguez | UD | 8 | 18 Apr 2009 | |||
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Decho Kokietgym | TKO | 2 (8), | 14 Feb 2009 | |||
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Raul Horacio Balbi | 6 (8), | 28 Nov 2008 | ||||
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Andrzej Sark | TKO | 2 (8), | 30 Aug 2008 | |||
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Shawn Gallegos | UD | 10 | 18 Apr 2008 | |||
| 14 | Win | 13–1 | Sergejs Savrinovics | RTD | 3 (8), | 1 Feb 2008 | |||
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Alexander Saltykov | KO | 4 (10) | 20 Dec 2007 | |||
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Nizar Boubaker | TKO | 2 (8), | 22 Oct 2007 | |||
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Cristian Frias | UD | 8 | 18 May 2007 | |||
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Vitaly Olkhovik | TKO | 2 (6) | 17 Nov 2006 | |||
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Alexander Saltykov | 7 (8), | 21 Jul 2006 | ||||
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Leonti Vorontsuk | UD | 4 | 18 Dec 2005 | |||
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Andrei Sherel | 2 (6) | 11 May 2005 | ||||
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Pavel Melnikov | UD | 8 | 11 Feb 2005 | |||
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Uladzimir Narushevich | 1 (6) | 9 Dec 2004 | ||||
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Filip Bystrikov | UD | 6 | 16 Jun 2004 | |||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Leonti Vorontsuk | UD | 4 | 15 May 2004 | |||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Vadzim Astapuk | UD | 4 | 25 Feb 2004 | |||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Pavel Lyakhov | 4 | 30 Nov 2003 |