By Eric Baldwin: #3 IBF Richard Commey (24-1, 22 KOs) weighed in successfully on Thursday in coming in at 134 ¾ pounds for his IBF lightweight eliminator match against #5 IBF Denis Shafikov (37-2-1, 20 KOs) this Friday on December 2 at the Tough Fight Gym in Moscow, Russia. The 31-year-old Shafikov weighed in at 134 ¼ pounds.
The winner of the contest will be the mandatory challenger to IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr. (18-0, 14 KOs). Commey, 29, lost to Easter Jr. by a 12 round split decision last September in a very close fight. Commey knocked the 5’11” Easter Jr. down in the 8th round with a chopping right hand to the head.
Easter Jr. got back up and was able to control the last four rounds of the contest. In the 12th, Easter Jr. staggered Commey and had him on the verge of being knocked out. Commey was able to hold on to get out of the fight without being stopped, but it was a close call.
The Easter Jr. vs. Commey fight was a really fun one for the boxing public, because it was an action-packed brawl from start to finish. Hopefully, Commey isn’t depleted from that huge war, because he took a lot of big shots from the lanky 5’11” Easter. At the same time, Commey landed a lot of huge head shots that Easter Jr. had to take. You never know how he’s going to look in his next fight. It should be interesting.
Shafikov is coming off the best win of his career in knocking out 2012 U.S Olympian Jamel Herring in the 10th round in their fight last July. Herring was knocked down in the 2nd round, and battered by Shafikov all the rest of the way. Herring didn’t look like he was ready for the kind of war that Shafikov made it inside the ring. He looked like he wanted to box, but Shafikov had other ideas. He was attacking Herring nonstop with power shots.
Shafikov has fought for world titles in the past on a couple of occasions in losing to Rances Batthelemy by a 12 round unanimous decision last year in December in striking out in his attempt to capture the vacant IBF World lightweight title in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Shafikov also lost to former IBF World lightweight champion Miguel Vasquez by a 12 round unanimous decision in February 2014 in Macao, China. I don’t know what it is for Shafikov, but when it comes to him fighting for the IBF lightweight title, he comes up short every time. Shafikov is now looking to get his third shot at the IBF lightweight crown if he can get past Commey on Friday night.
Shafikov looks really improved since his losses to Barthelemy and Vazquez. He looked a lot better in the fight than he had in his two prior defeats in his boxing career.
This fight promises to be a war from start to finish. The fighter with the best chin will get the ‘W’ on Friday night. Commey looked invincible before his loss to Easter Jr. If Commey ends up fighting Easter Jr. a second time, it’ll be a thrilling fight as long as it lasts.
