Ukraine’s Tsotne Rogava believes he’s the way forward for the heavyweight division.
Rogava returns on March 23 in opposition to Antonio Brown (8-4, 8 KOs) on the LumColor Phoenix Heart in Ontario, California.
Regardless of a resume that options simply 5 skilled boxing fights, Rogava’s achievements are huge. He carved out distinguished Muay Thai and kickboxing careers earlier than prioritizing boxing, profitable all 5 of his first professional bouts by knockout.
Rogava trains underneath the tutelage of Joe Goossen and Jonathan Walley, who appear to be large believers of their fighter’s expertise. Walley says Rogava will quickly have the ability to combat the division’s elite.
“I’ll put it like this – inside the subsequent 5 fights, you may put him in an enormous combat, and within the subsequent 10 fights you may put him in a title combat,” Walley stated of Rogava. “He simply bought achieved sparring with what I consider will likely be soon-to-be cruiserweight champion [Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez], and he has dealt with him each single time. Everyone he has been within the ring with – Gurgen [Hovhannisyan] included – it’s pay-per-view fights.
Rogava had 33 novice fights as a boxer, however that hardly sums up his expertise.
“He did Muay Thai his entire life, and inside a 12 months of beginning boxing, he ended up on the Ukrainian nationwide group,” Walley stated. “Then he ended up being an Olympian.”
Rogava, 30, estimates that had greater than 30 skilled fights as a kickboxer and as many as 400 in Muay Thai.
He could have the file of a prospect, however Rogava’s expertise hints at extra instant potential – which is why he’s being fast-tracked by his group. The purpose is to get Rogava into rivalry as quickly as doable. That sometimes means being sanctioned for 10-round fights.
“When you know the way to combat, you possibly can combat,” Walley stated. “If you find yourself good at combating, issues make sense to you. Which is how you find yourself on the Ukrainian nationwide group inside a 12 months of boxing.”
Rogava sparred with Oleksandr Usyk earlier than his combat with Derek Chisora.
“I discovered one thing from Usyk as a result of I hadn’t confronted any fighter like him,” Rogava stated by way of translator.
Within the amateurs, Rogava additionally fought 2020 Olympic gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov and revered British heavyweight Frazer Clarke. He misplaced each fights by way of break up resolution, the second time within the spherical of 16 on the 2020 Olympics.
In 2024, Rogava is aiming to turn out to be the following nice heavyweight from Ukraine. Usyk holds three of the 4 world heavyweight titles, following a protracted stretch by which Wladimir Klitschko and brother Vitali dominated the division.
