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VIEW: Andranik Hakobyan, your fight as European champion against the Spanish Sergio García is going to explode because you injured your shoulder in training. How are you?
Akobian (31): Better than Monday, when it was clear that he had to cancel the fight. But I’m not okay. It’s a shitty situation. I try to see the positives and look forward. But it is not easy.
The title fight was the opportunity of a lifetime. You were the great geek. But with a win …
I don’t know if I’ll get another chance like this. The frame conditions were ideal for me: there would have been no spectators, Garcia’s home advantage would not have been a problem, the judges influenced less easily. And Garcia certainly didn’t have an easy preparation because of Corona.
Would you have hit him?
You can never say that. But honestly, he is not an invincible fighter. I respect him, he can go the full distance of the 12-round title fight, but he’s no better at boxing than me. I could have beaten him on a good day, mostly because I think he underestimated me a bit. And I wanted to take my chance. I’m not getting any younger.
You are 31 years old and you are running out of time as a boxing professional. Shouldn’t he have stepped into the ring and tried everything despite his injury?
No possibility! I can’t use my left arm right now, let alone box with it. I tried painkillers on the weekend, with injections. But none of that helps, doctors say. Now I have to take a month. 95 percent of the boxers would have lined up if they had said in the second round, “My shoulder hurts,” they would have given up and collected the money. But I don’t do that. I don’t want to sell myself below value. I’d rather starve for two months.
Do you get at least part of the entry fee for the EM fight?It is not a black horse. He would only have made it if he had boxed. And now the organizers are trying to charge me the cost of the hotel and the flights. Because I won’t box on Saturday.
How much money are you losing?
The fee. And in the five weeks that I was preparing for the fight at the “MTK Global” gym in Marbella, I also had no income, because I closed my boxing gym in Baden. That’s a good five-figure amount.
He couldn’t take advantage of his golden opportunity, he even suffered a financial loss. Was that your professional career?
I hope not. I want to improve now, and then I hope to have another chance. The story of Kubrat Pulev, who boxed Anthony Joshua at the World Heavyweight Championship at the weekend, gives me courage. He had to drop out of a fight against Joshua three years ago, also due to a shoulder injury. And now, at the age of 39, he has returned to fighting. I try to hold onto those things. Maybe the doctor who examined me at the hospital is right.
What did she say
“Perhaps God wanted to protect you from an even more serious injury.” Can be.
