Last
December, his career without direction, boxing nomad Zhanat Zhakiyanov
travelled from his home in Kazakhstan to fight in Hong Kong. If you can keep
winning in this game, good things come to you and that’s exactly what happened
when he signed with powerful advisor Philippe Fondu. In turn, Fondu brought his
newest charge to Britain where he’s trained under the watchful eye of a certain
Ricky Hatton.
After
two months of learning in late June, it was time to put his newfound skills
into action when Zhakiyanov faced Michael Escobar, stopping the journeyman in
four rounds. Not one to let the grass grow under his feet, he makes a quick
return fighting on the 16th July
in Minsk, Belarus taking on experienced journeyman Yuri Voronin.
Zhakiyanov
intends to cast his gaze toward the European bantamweight title, currently the
property of well-respected Stephane Jamoye, with the plan to meet him this
fall. It should be noted that Jamoye is sitting in the number one slot by the
WBC so he may elect to vacate rather than take on the difficult assignment Zhakiyanov
would present.
The
25-year-old is on a 15-fight win streak (his last seven wins were by stoppage)
in a record that sits at 20-1 (13). At present, he’s ranked number 12 by the
WBC and 10 by the WBA.
Anson Wainwright - You
recently fought for the first time, stopping Michael Escobar in four rounds,
having been out of action for six months. Why were you out of action for so
long?
Zhanat Zhakiyanov - The main reason I haven’t boxed since
Hong Kong is that we were expecting the EBU to issue the purse bid procedure
for the mandatory defence against Stephane Jamoye. Jamoye won the vacant
European title in December 2012 and made one voluntary defence in March 2013. The mandatory is overdue and my management team
was convinced the EBU would comply with the rules but they allowed Jamoye
another voluntary in September, which is out of date. Anyway, he won’t be able to avoid me much longer.
AW - Now that you have gotten
past Escobar and Jamoye is, as you say, scheduled to defend his title, what is
your plan?
ZZ -
To keep me active, Ricky Hatton has proposed for me to box in Minsk [Belarus]
on the undercard of Sergey Rabchenko and Kiryl Relikh. As I said, hopefully, Stephane Jamoye won’t be allowed
to duck me after his voluntary defence of September. I hope this fight can take place in Kazakhstan in
October or early November.
AW - What have you done with
your time in the six months between your two most recent fights?
ZZ -
After [fighting in] Hong Kong, I came back home, enjoyed the New Year with my
family and then went back training. Then
Ricky Hatton and Philippe Fondu offered me to come to Manchester to train under
Ricky’s guidance, which I did for the last two months.
AW - What has it been like
training with Ricky Hatton?
ZZ - A
fantastic experience! Both Ricky Hatton and [assistant trainer] Mike Jackson
have devoted so much time to me over these last two months and have helped me
to improve to the next level. I am feeling much more relaxed and sharp when in
the ring. I’ve learned how to
improve my physical condition too. Ricky Hatton is an excellent mentor; he’s
been in all types of fights and is able to pass this huge experience to the
boxers he trains. I feel extremely privileged about this.
AW - In your career to date,
you have fought in many different countries. Could you tell us about that
experience and how it has helped improve you as a fighter?
ZZ -
While I like, of course, fighting abroad so to have public exposure, once you
are in the ring, it is just you and your opponent.
AW - Could you tell us what it
was like growing up for you in Kazakhstan when you were younger? Were things
tough for you and your family or did you have a good upbringing?
ZZ - I
was born in the small village of Blagoveshenska, which is in on the River Amur,
close to the border of China. I moved with my family to Petropavlovsk, which is
in the far North of Kazakhstan, close to the border of Russia in a region
called Oural. The weather is very cold in the winter [as low as -43 degrees
Celsius/-45.4 degrees Fahrenheit] and quite hot in the summer [as high as 40
degrees Celsius/104 degrees Fahrenheit]. We have a lot of snow in the winter,
which makes it quite hard indeed. I have
a very good family. We live together with my wife, my brother and my mother in
a nice country house in the small city of Petropavlovsk. My dad passed away in
2006. We have a very big dog living with us too.
AW - How did you first become
interested in boxing?
ZZ - I
started trying wrestling but did not enjoy it so much, so when I was 11 years
old, I started boxing as most of my friends did it. I won some medals in
international amateur tournaments and then decided to turn pro.
AW - Your countryman, Gennady
Golovkin, is one of the hottest fighters in world boxing currently. Do you know
him personally? Were you in the same amateur team with him and what do you
think of him?
ZZ - I
do not personally know Gennady Golovkin as he’s half-Russian and is from the
capital of Kazakhstan, Astana [previously called Almaty], while I am from the
North of Kazakhstan, quite far away from the capital. But my brother was with him on the national team and
Gennady has indeed an excellent record in his amateur career. He is a very
lovely individual in and out of boxing and a great champion. His own brother,
Oleg, is on his team and always everywhere with him.
AW - Tell us a little about
yourself. What do you like to do away from boxing?
ZZ -
To be honest with you, I do not have any hobbies except boxing, which is my
passion. I can’t think, for the time being, about anything else but succeeding
in becoming European champion first and then fight for and becoming a world
champion. I have now a fantastic
team around me, Ricky Hatton as my coach and my mentor, Mike Jackson, my
managers, Philippe Fondu and Yerik Jailauov, who all take great care of my
future.
AW – Lastly, do you have anything
you'd like to say to the bantamweight division?
ZZ -
The next step is the European title but with the support of Ricky Hatton, Mike,
Philippe Fondu and Yerik Jailauov, I’m so sure I’ll become a world champion
after this. Thank you for showing
some interest in me I will not disappoint you. Please keep supporting me.