“I never lost on the street”: Asbarov about childhood in Dagestan, lawlessness in boxing and saving people in Khabarovsk

“Many simply did not expect that I would be stronger than Kudryashov”

- Can the fight with Dmitry Kudryashov be called the most important in your career, given that he is a former world champion?

In addition, the meeting was shown live on the federal television channel.

- Of course, it is important to reach a new audience, but somehow I would not want to single it out.

For me, every fight is significant, I take everyone seriously.

Of course, from a media point of view, it turned out to be a very interesting confrontation.

It was a huge motivation for me.

Did you expect the fight with Kudryashov to be so simple?

You easily outboxed Dimitri, but he never managed to shock you.

- I was going to act exactly according to this scenario.

But what the opponent was counting on is hard to say.

Probably, he laid on the power and force of the blow.

Maybe he thought I was weak.

But I was confident in my abilities and knew what he was capable of.

The fact that Kudryashov weighed 20 kg more did not bother me either, although this is a very serious difference.

In boxing, every kilogram plays a role.

But I was ready for this weight and these blows.

And there was no need to create fantasy in the training camp.

It turned out to be enough to analyze the opponent's fights and impose your own game.

To do this, he regularly sparred with heavyweights: high-level professionals who were in no way inferior to Kudryashov.

To be honest, it was harder with them than with Dima.

- How much has your popularity increased after the victory?

- It's hard to say, because even before her it was often recognized.

Now, too, they come up and congratulate.

Many simply did not expect that I would be stronger than the ex-world champion.

It is very nice when people share positive emotions.

And social networks are completely flooded with messages.

I want to answer everyone, pay attention, but physically I do not have time.

This kind of support is really motivating.

- Can you already be called a star in Dagestan?

- Of course.

Everyone is waiting for me to arrive.

I haven't had time to go home yet, but I'm going to do it.

It's just that in November I had a fistfight.

I want to spend it and then fly quietly.

- Who will be the opponent?

- Looking for a person.

They wanted to take a foreigner, but everyone refuses and does not want to fight.

I am waiting for any opponent to defend the championship title.

There is no one to fight from Russia either.

Whether they are afraid, or something else.

But what to be afraid of: in this form, you must accept challenges and enter the ring.

It's hard to keep waiting.

The matchmakers can't find anyone.

Just yesterday I was talking with Anatoly Sulyanov (head of Hardcore FC -

): "Sos, well, there is no one to take."

And to meet with a foreigner who came as cannon fodder is no longer interesting to me.

There are options with a boxing match for December and a cam for February, but I will not get ahead of myself.

- Why such a hurry?

You recently had a difficult duel with Kudryashov.

- Why take a lot of rest?

Believe me, in training every other day we fight in sparring no worse than in competitions.

Fights are our way of life.

Moreover, in the last confrontation, he did not receive any serious injuries.

“We fought for an hour and a half until he gave up”

- As a child, you were engaged in judo, and sambo, and karate, and wrestling.

Why stop at boxing?

- This sport immediately aroused my interest.

I tried myself there, and there.

And then I came to boxing and realized: I like standing fights much more than fussing on the carpet.

Gathered with friends and started to study.

We went to training together, but then someone fell off and left, and someone achieved success.

However, none of the comrades reached such a level as I did.

- Was it really not tempting to stay in the fight, which they adore in Dagestan?

We had too many wrestlers.

But when there were street fights, you had to fight them.

Here I can say one thing: it is easier to cut down than to climb into the stalls.

Although I can do that too.

I had to go through everything.

How often did you have to fight?

- At school there was a period when he constantly sorted things out.

In every class, there is always someone who wants to show their leadership qualities and fortitude.

They fought both at school and after it in the yard.

We have no conflicts.

It also happened that they came with axes.

When the crowd gathered on the crowd, some took with them fittings, all sorts of pieces of iron.

But it's more for insurance.

As a rule, they either found a common language, or someone went out one on one.

- Can you remember the most serious fight.

- Once I got a guy a class older.

As a result, we fought with him for an hour and a half, until he gave up with the words that he was tired and could not continue.

Although I fought with all my might.

A little more and he would have died.

My friends carried me from there in their arms.

Couldn't even get up.

He suffered purely in character.

- With such an attitude, you probably almost did not concede in fights.

“I never lost on the street.

After each fight, he came home dirty, with torn things, and his father went to find out how it all ended.

And if, God forbid, he would have been defeated, he would have beaten me even harder.

So there was no option to give up.

“The bone was broken in three places, and one of the fragments tore the gum”

- There were really terrible situations in your life.

In 2013, you went to a boxing tournament in Kazakhstan, where you were beaten up by a crowd of local young people.

When you went to the showdown with them, didn't you expect them to start beating you in a mob?

“Eight people attacked me in a bar, but I fought them back.

Everything was seething inside.

They went somewhere, got lost.

You don't know who to ask.

In addition, they returned back to the institution with a Chechen friend.

In Kazakhstan, he talked to us, called us brothers, and so on.

How could I not go with them if they offered to sort things out one on one?

I agreed and was even happy.

I thought "beautiful".

He left his guys, said, they say, everything will be fine, with me there is a Chechen, and went.

- In that incident, you received an open fracture of the jaw.

Is this the worst injury in your life?

- Yes.

The bone was broken in three places, and one of the fragments tore the gum.

They did an operation, and then for three months I walked with a special metal structure in my mouth.

But after 3.5 months he returned to the ring and won the championship of Russia of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

- At the trial, you asked to drop all charges against the main defendant Ruslan Bakhitov.

Why?

- I had no complaints against the attackers, and I did not want them to be imprisoned.

I did not write any complaints, the case was opened after the fact.

Then I specially came by car from Dagestan to Kazakhstan in order to smear Bakhitov.

He had a wife and a small child.

I didn't need to send him to jail.

- A few years later, you got into another memorable story, when in Khabarovsk, together with your comrades, 25 people were pulled out of a burning tram.

When you ran there, was there no fear at all?

— What is fear?

Then I didn't think about myself at all.

We saw that the tram was on fire, there were people inside, and they needed help.

The main goal was to rescue them.

And thinking about fire… By and large, you are in control of the situation.

I understood that there would be no explosion, and people needed help.

He himself was practically not injured, except for a crack in the elbow when he broke the glass.

Plus, I inhaled smoke.

- What were you thinking when the passengers were already outside, and you climbed into the cabin to check if anyone else was left there?

- We seemed to have pulled everyone out, but the thought was in my head: what if people were left inside?

So I rushed to check.

Everything was completely covered in smoke, visibility was zero.

He closed his eyes, shook his face and felt the space with his feet.

Luckily, we managed to get everyone out.

- You said that the rescued then came to the hall with words of gratitude.

Maybe some appeal was especially memorable?

- One dear grandfather came and began to thank.

This is how he described his feelings when the tram caught fire.

I, he says, realized that my end had come, just sat down on the seat and began to wait for death.

He clearly realized that there was no chance to get out.

“And then you appeared, our salvation,” he said with tears in his eyes.

“A man came up and said: “There is already a battle charged, bought”

- In boxing, you fought 227 fights, but ended your career without fulfilling your dream of getting to the Olympics.

According to you, the reason was, among other things, unfair refereeing.

Faced with outright lawlessness?

- This happened both at the championships of Russia and at some international tournaments.

Everyone tried to drag their own and buy or sell a fight.

Nothing without this.

The fact is that amateur boxing is very fast, and one or two hits counted in the right direction can decide the outcome of the confrontation.

And strong guys always came to the national championship, and it was difficult to win there for a clear advantage, so that no one had any questions.

Breaking into the World Cup without paying was unrealistic.

Now, fortunately, this happens less frequently.

- It happened that you entered the ring and understood: the opponent paid for the victory?

- I remember one such moment at the Russian championship.

Before the next fight, a man came up and said to my team and coach: “The fight is already charged there, bought.

The opponent will be dragged.

If you don’t win by unanimous decision or by knockout, the victory will not be given away.”

As a result, I looked better, and the judges raised their hands to him.

But that guy himself lost in the final.

- What thoughts were spinning in your head after the end of your career?

Have you thought about finishing sports?

- At that time, I really got enough of the fights.

In 2015, he completely left boxing.

After that, for three or four years he did not perform anywhere and did not practice until he came to Hardcore FC.

He kept in shape, but there was no talk of working in the mode of a professional athlete.

Frankly, I did not even think that I would return to the ring.

How long did it take you to get back in shape?

I still collect them to this day.

I want to get stronger and stronger.

But now I feel better than when I was 23-25 ​​years old.

There was a certain awareness, experience, a meaningful attitude to work.

- In one of the interviews, you said that you received a lot of hand injuries.

In this case, how did you decide to switch to fisticuffs, where the damage to the hands is much greater?

- Paradoxically, all my injuries occurred with gloves on.

There is no such thing in the cam.

Here I can fully clench my fist, but in boxing I can’t.

So I feel less pain.

Hands are much less broken.

Yes, of course, fingers ache, but there are no serious problems.

- It turns out that the most dangerous thing in fisticuffs is slashes?

- Definitely.

Any hit can turn the tide of the confrontation.

People's cheekbones, jaws, noses are constantly broken.

In boxing, you have the ability to throw a lot of punches, and in camming, you can miss one and finish.

The pain will just make you give up.

Of course, this is not the safest sport, but let's remember the origins.

Men used to fight with their bare fists.

Later, to reduce the damage, they came up with bandages and pads.

So it all came to professional boxing.

“If someone says something to me on camera, I will resolve issues differently”

- It seemed that after knocking out Daud Kelbikhanov in the championship fight, you yourself were in shock.

Have you ever felt scared for your opponent after a knockout in your life?

- I don't remember that.

As for the duel with Kelbikhanov, I understood that I hit him in the temple and “turned it off”.

Daud needed time to recover and recover.

The man suffered a head injury and was under stress.

And I caught the fuss in the ring, because the judge started the countdown, although it was clear that Daud would not get up.

Have you ever been knocked out yourself?

- This has never happened.

I didn't even get knocked down.

- You are known as a fairly calm person, not prone to hard thrash talk.

Have you been able to avoid such situations for the entire time of your performances in Hardcore FC?

“I don't like dirt myself.

This is not my story.

I don’t say too much about people, and I don’t want them to allow themselves this.

And if someone offends me, I will not sort things out at Hardcore FC.

If someone says something to me on camera, I will resolve issues differently.

And I treat all my opponents with respect too.

- Most recently, the famous pop-MMA fighter Shovkhal Churchaev, on the set of one of the podcasts, threatened Mohammad Heybati with a gun.

Will such a trash talk end in tragedy sooner or later?

“Behaving like that is not entirely correct.

People decided to meet and find out the relationship.

They sat down at the table, and since the conversation did not develop, one of them took out a gun.

This is strange, because the opponent is in a losing situation.

One side brought pistols, the other didn't.

Some understood that it was not worth doing this, because they could be asked for it in a different way.

And others decided to shoot and scare.

Do you want to inspire respect with a piece of iron?

- You said that for one fight in Hardcore FC you get less than you spend on training.

The situation has not changed?

- Now everything has changed, and I fully earn duels.

- Evgeny Kurdanov recently made his debut in the world's leading fistfighting promotion Bare Knuckle.

Would you like to follow his lead?

- If I had a burning desire, I would do everything to be there.

I have enough connections and acquaintances to organize a fight across the ocean for me.

So far it doesn't matter.

It all depends on the fee and conditions - what they can offer.

Well, I'll go there, and what, fight for $20-30 thousand?

If they call me to fight for the title with their champion for good money, I will be glad.

- Just the other day you exchanged tough messages with Bare Knuckle heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Lorenzo Hunt.

Do you think it's realistic to organize a fight with him?

- We have already made an offer to the American, and he accepted it.

It remains to sign the agreement.

Our confrontation will take place in February as part of the Hardcore FC stadium tournament.

We want to stir up the main fight.

- Three Russians with whom they would like to fight.

“I don’t have such a thing that I dreamed of meeting with someone in particular.

I called Kudryashov, but now there are no preferences.

No desire to challenge.

- Vyacheslav Datsik fought on the same card with you and knocked out Alexander Emelianenko.

Would you be interested in meeting with Red Tarzan, especially since he successfully performs with bare fists?

- Hardcore FC boxing tournament will take place in December.

I have to pick up a foreigner as a rival.

But if they don't find anyone, I'll tell them to give Glory.

I think the public will be interested.

And I can not say that the duel does not carry intrigue.

Datsik still knows how to hit from under the ass and should not be underestimated.

- In September, information appeared that you could have a fist fight with Sergei Kharitonov.

Is she true?

- I think he will not agree and will ask for unrealistic money.

This is so, they did a quirk.

I, in turn, am interested in everything that is offered.

- After the fight with Kudryashov, you said about the desire to "rock" the fight with Murat Gassiev.

Have the negotiations already begun?

- Not yet, but I would like to meet Murat next year.

It will be great if our opposition will be able to organize.

I don’t know him personally, but I want Gassiev to fight not with incomprehensible “bags”, but with really strong boxers.

When he fights with weak opponents, he does not get better.

Those who organize such fights for him simply ruin him.

Murat and I can get a competitive fight.

I will approach him in good shape.

Are you ready to try your hand at MMA?

—

Why not?

The main thing is to be interesting to me and the public.

I'm working on wrestling, but we'll figure it out.

Probably, it will not reach the parterre.

Anything happens in life.

You can work in the rack and fight.

This is a fight.