Please describe your fighting technique.

To do that, you need to look at my strengths – my biceps and triceps. I try to take a position where I will engage both to the fullest extent. So it doesn’t matter whether it’s top roll, hook or side pressure.

And what do you do after ready-go? What do you focus on?

You need to go offensive. That’s the best chance to win. Defense gives you much smaller chances. So always attack.

How do Americans feel at European contests? There are no American rules here.

As far as differences go, European rules are much more strict. I think that European wrestlers are less technical, but stronger. So when comparing USA and Europe, the differences are large.

What exactly are the differences in rules?

They are mostly visible when you compare pro and amateur wrestling. In amateur you have double eliminations, which doesn’t happen in pro. In pro you just get one opponent, thet’s professional armwrestling. Pro and amateur are two different worlds of armwrestling. I had quite a lot of successes in pro, because I had six rounds in every fight to learn my opponent. To test angles and tactics, whereas in an amateur fight one mistake is enough to land you in big trouble.

Would you say that Russians lose in American tournaments, because they are not used to American conditions?

We have no unified table in America, every federation has different tables with different pads. Russians lose, because they practice on different tables from ours. But it works both ways, for us too when we come to Europe. Those who don’t have a Mazurenko table, get in trouble. Fortunately I have one, I love to train with it. It helps me prepare for overseas fights.

Is it good that we are different on the two sides of the ocean, that we follow different paths?

I think it’s ok. It’s great that we are different, and that we can meet and compare experiences.

How has armwrestling changes?

Today it’s more technical. The modern fighters are different than those we used to see back in the day. I see taller guys with longer forearms and bigger palms, that’s good for armwrestling.

How do you see the future of armwrestling? I mostly mean it’s level of popularity.

If it’s to get more popular, it would be because of 6-round tournaments, not double eliminations championships, because that makes championships very long, and fights are short.

The amateur strategy is to win as quick as possible. But in six-rounds fights stamina plays a large part. If you’re really strong and loose two rounds, you can still make up the losses. In amateur contest, the fight often ends so quickly, that the audience doesn’t know what happened.. in pros, you have the chance to express yourself, show your skills and emotions to the audience, it’s a two-way dialog. That’s the future of armwrestling.

Armwrestling is a relatively young sport, do you think the rules are well-constructed?

The rules are not perfect and I don’t believe they ever will be. Some changes can be made here and there, but a lot depends on whether we practice pro or amateur. Right now, I don’t mind the amateur rules. They should be like in the Olympics. Everything should be perfect, every error should be caught and I agree with that. I don’t mind strict rules.

Tell me about your beginnings, did you use pro tables?

They weren’t Mazurenko tables, but they were cool. They had square pads in a straight line, not on the outer edge. They were different, but not that much. I don’t think that tables evolved so much over time.

What is armwrestling in your life? What’s your story?

I played baseball in school, but I lost my passion for it because of certain politics. One day I was watching television, saw “Over the Top”, and remembered that I used to be good at armwrestling back in high school. Sounds naïve, but that’s the story. I never lost, I was a strong dude. I found a local tournament in the internet, I fought and I won for the first time – I came 3^rd. As I said, I never lost in high school. But in my first real fight I got pinned real quick. I couldn’t believe it, I was in shock. some guy came up to me and said – is this your first tournament? I told him it was. He said – try this – grab the guy, pull him as much as you can, and on “ready-go” – attack to the side. On my second fight I did just that and it worked! I felt an instant rush of adrenaline. I can still feel it now, when I tell the story. It was a great feeling! It was like a knockout in boxing. That was when I fell in love with armwrestling. I always thought of myself as a strong guy, I liked competing one on one, but I didn’t like getting punched in the face. That’s why armwrestling is my thing.

im, gk