One of Europe's top prospects (is it still OK to call him a prospect seeing as he's so awesome?) Alexander Shlemenko talked to us about his fight with Sean Salmon this weekend on a packed Fight Festival card, and what's happening with Shine Fights etc.
“Sean is very experienced, tough fighter. He fought in the UFC, and I think that only good fighters get in there,” noted ‘Storm’, assessing his adversary’s strengths and weaknesses. “He is pretty big for the middleweight category, has a very good wrestling base and he is also a southpaw, which causes additional problems. Speaking about weaknesses, everybody has them. I think I found some of his weak points, and I’ll try to use them to my advantage in our fight. We’ll see. Only the fight will show who’s better prepared.”
With Salmon having been on the receiving end of some heavy knockouts in his career and fifteen of Alexander’s twenty-five wins coming by T/KO, should we expect to Russian to be looking to separate his opponent from his senses?
“Of course. I try to win every fight by KO, no matter who my opponent is. Unfortunately it doesn’t always go the way I want to, so if I get a chance to win by submission I’ll try to do it. But, my goal in every fight is to KO my opponent.”
Fight festival 27 card is awesome! Besides Salmon vs Shlemenko they got: Marcus Aurelio vs Niko Puhakka Jake O'Brien vs Toni Valtonen Martin Zawada vs Marcus Vänttinen etc.
I'll try to put on a preview of this event to my blog tonight. Gonna see the fights live and write a short post-fight review after it.
There was a message from Salmon to the promoter of Fight Festival on a finnish board Pakkotoisto.com:
I was trying to post this on the Forum, but I do not speak Finnish, so I had some trouble. I hope that you will all come out to watch me fight Alexander Shlemenko on March 13 in Helsinki!! I have watched many of his fights and there is no doubt that he comes to put on a show!! This will be my 4th time fighting for you, so I hope that you know that I come to put on a show!! Alexander is a very good fighter, I am a very good fighter. Alexander wants to knock me out, I want to knock Alexander out!! Please come too Tooloo Hall (Arena's name) on March 13 and let us show you who the better fighter is!!! We are not the main event, but I promise that we will be the best fight of the night!!
Sean Salmon
Sounds quite hyped and ready for the match in my opinion. :)
Sean is leaving in a few hours for Helsinki. I was at this gym last night and he is looking in good shape. Should be a good fight. I got to watch Shlemenko fight while one of my guys was fighting for showtime. He's a tough fighter and should make for an exciting fight.
"Shlemenko landed a crushing knee strike to the midsection of Salmon and sent the American to the canvas. Shlemenko finished him off with some GnP and the fight was stopped at just 0.40 of the first round."
Yeah, Shlemenko was on FIRE last night. Dude is a nightmare on the feet. His style is so unique and very explosive. Read the whole report at my blog Beatings from the North
Mike Sanders - "Shlemenko landed a crushing knee strike to the midsection of Salmon and sent the American to the canvas. Shlemenko finished him off with some GnP and the fight was stopped at just 0.40 of the first round."
NorthFromHere - Yeah, Shlemenko was on FIRE last night. Dude is a nightmare on the feet. His style is so unique and very explosive. Read the whole report at my blog
Thanks for the report NorthFromHere, sounds like a solid performance! Beast.... Would love to see him and Radev go at it again (even though Radev has dropped) as Shlemenko was winning that fight handily until the KO.
