Denis Shafikov vs. Rances Barthelemy
Boxing: Friday, December 18, 2015 at 9:00 pm (Palms Casino Resort)
The Line: Denis Shafikov +170 / Rances Barthelemy -200
Rances Barthelemy and Denis Shafikov fight Friday night at the Palms Casino Resort for the IBF Lightweight title.
Premier Boxing Champions is often criticized for delivering weakmatchups to fight fans. While there's some validity to that, Friday night's card from the Pearl at the Palms Casino in LasVegas shouldn't be dismissed.
Unbeaten and exciting Cuban star Rances "Kid Blast" Barthelemy (23-0, 13 KOs) will face Denis Shafikov (36-1-1, 19 KOs) for the vacant IBFWorld Lightweight Championship. Both men are battle-tested, legitimate contenders.
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Unbeaten Rances Barthelemy has a plan for domination that involves one weight class at a time.
"My ultimate goal in the future is to be world champion in four or five weight divisions," Barthelemy said, through a translator. "I want to move all the way up to 154, if possible."
Rances Barthelemy enters this fight with a 23-0 record that includes 13 knockouts. This is Barthelemy’s third fight of 2015, and he’s coming off a June win over Antonio DeMarco. Barthelemy is a very crafty and quick boxer who is able to get in and out, making it tough to hit with a big punch. Barthelemy also has an incredible reach of 73 inches, which allows him to keep his opponent at a safe distance. Barthelemy does have some underrated power in his punches but does have just two knockouts since 2012. The concern for Barthelemy is that despite moving up in class, he’s still very thin and can be pushed around by bigger or stronger fighters. This will be Barthelemy’s seventh career fight in Las Vegas.
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Denis Shafikov enters this fight with a 36-1-1 record that includes 19 knockouts. Shafikov has won his last three fights and is coming off a July win over Roy Mukhlis. Shafikov is a strong, compact fighter who has some solid power for his size and impressive head movement. Shafikov does a nice job of attacking the body and has the stamina to go the distance if need be. Shafikov is also greatly experienced and this will be his seventh fight since 2013. The concern for Shafikov is that he is on the short side of 5’5” and can struggle against fighters with great length. This will be Shafikov’s second career fight in Las Vegas.
Shafikov’s lack of height is going to be a problem when you factor in Barthelemy’s length. Barthelemy should be very effective on his counters and will be able to keep Shafikov at a distance while controlling the fight.
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