Bakhtov Denis - strong and uncompromising heavyweight

Professional boxing is a very cruel and hard sport, requiring a lot of strength and endurance. As a rule, they come there after long years of career in amateur sports. However, the circumstances forced Dennis Bakhtov immediately move to the higher mathematics of this sport. He is quite a famous boxer, fighting with the strongest opponents - Sinan Samil Sam, Juan Carlos Gomez. Bakhtov Denis, whose photo can be seen in this article, in different years was among the top twenty boxers by versions of the WBC, WBA, IBF. For a decade and a half in professional boxing, he conducted 50 fights, 39 of which won.

The manner of combat

Bakhtov Denis is a boxer of medium height for a super heavyweight (181 cm), strongly knocked down and possessing advanced musculature. He is "two-handed" (he is good at both hands), his blow is heavy, which many of his rivals experienced on themselves. Like other boxers, he uses his best qualities and during the fight tries to break the distance between the opponent and arrange a exchange of power strikes.

Favorite blows of Denis - short "hooks" on the right and on the left. Using low growth, he likes to use the strongest blows to the body, capable of confusing and depriving the most durable boxer.

Short amateur career and moving to Russia

Bakhtov Denis Vladimirovich was born in Karaganda, the Kazakh SSR in 1979. From the age of seventeen he attracted the attention of specialists, and he was expected to have a good career in amateur boxing. However, at that time the absolute first number in the Kazakh team was Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov, which did not allow Denis to perform at the world championships and olympiads. Because of this, he decided to finish with amateur sports and move to St. Petersburg to try his luck in professional boxing. In the northern capital, his brother Vladimir was already waiting for him, who was a famous Greco-Roman wrestler.

The transfer was not easy, Denis had to start from scratch in a new place. At first, he did not even have money for a rented apartment, and he slept right at the gym. Only after the victory of his elder brother Vladimir at the World Championships did they have the opportunity to live in a communal apartment.

Starting a professional career

The debut fight in the professional ring Bakhtov Denis held in September 1999. The first year of his career was not very successful. Nothing, except for victories over obviously weak rivals, he could not boast at this time. In addition, there were defeats from the British Matthew Valis and the Russian Alexei Varakin. But later he was able to fully take revenge on the offenders, sending them both in knockout in the return matches.

In 2001 Bakhtov Denis managed to win a rather prestigious belt of the intercontinental champion in the WBC version, knocking out the aforementioned Matthew Valis. This honorary title he held for three years, having managed to hold four defenses.

Black Stripe of Defeats

One of the best heavyweights in Europe in the mid-2000s was the Turk Sinan Samil Sam. It was with him was to conduct the fifth defense of his belt Bakhtov Denis. The battle, held in Germany in 2004, was held on a collision course. Rivals eight rounds exchanged heavy blows from an average distance. Only in the tenth part of the fight Denis missed a heavy uppercut and was on the floor.

Defeat from Samil Sam seriously discarded Denis in the ranking by several positions, but it was not a terrible tragedy. In the end, he lost to a serious opponent, a rising star of European heavyweight. In a couple of months he was rehabilitated to some extent, defeating the strong Albanian Nuri Seferi. However, the most unpleasant thing happened six months after the battle with the Turk.

Against him in the ring came the experienced fighter Saul Montana from Mexico. The veteran from Latin America before acted in the first heavy weight, some times unsuccessfully applied for a champion belt. It seemed that Denis Bakhtov had to deal with a lighter weighter, whose best years were behind, without much trouble. However, already in the first round he missed the hardest blow, after which he was in the ring, and in the fifth round the referee stopped beating Denis and awarded the victory to the Mexican. This was a serious test for Bakhtov, many even expected that he would finish his career after heavy defeats.

Star boxer minutes

However, a strong guy from Karaganda proved to be a staunch fighter. He took a timeout for 10 months, rested and regained strength. After winning a series of victories, he got an exotic title for the Russian boxer of the champion of Asia in the WBO version.

After that, Bakhtov Denis met with the strongest opponent in his career. Juan Carlos Gomez from Cuba was already a champion in lighter weight and was eager to become the best heavyweight. Everyone was expecting a quick victory for the Cuban, but Denis fought well, having held all twelve rounds. Bakhtov did not drop his hands and after the defeat he conducted a series of five successful fights, taking in passing a belt of Asian champion PABA and WBC.

His best fights in the career Denis spent against the German boxer Steffen Kretschmann. By 2009, a tall lefty (196 cm) had 13 fights, all of which won. He was considered a promising newcomer, and the promoters expected that Bakhtov Denis would become just another passing rival of the German. However, the Russian did not want to be another boxing pear for Steffen.

Already forty seconds after the start of the battle, he stunned the German with the strongest hook on the right, and at the end of the round he "finished off" the opponent with the same blow. Krechmann's team considered this defeat to be accidental and demanded a revenge. However, in a second duel Denis brought down a hail of blows to the opponent's body, and he acknowledged defeat, not waiting for the end of the fight.

After that Bakhtov Denis fought in the professional ring until 2015. There were victories, there were defeats, he fought several times for the WBC intercontinental champion title. In any case, he remained in memory as one of the strongest and most uncompromising rivals.