Lightweight prospect Dzmitry Asanau (7-0, 3 KOs) takes a step toward the mainstream upon signing with Montreal-based outfit Eye of the Tiger. The Belarusian 28-year-old will make his North American debut on the undercard of Christian Mbilli vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko in Quebec City on August 17 live on ESPN. The amateur standout claimed medals at two European Championships, one World Championship, and gold at the World Military Boxing Championships, but he would begin his professional career in the obscurity of German undercards.
“I’m delighted to sign with Eye of the Tiger,” Asanau said in an exclusive interview for FightsATW. “We had been in discussions for a long time, me and my manager have been thinking about this promoter for a while. I know a lot of guys with this promoter, so I asked some of my friends and they all said very good things.
“I came to Montreal in April and did a training camp with Marc [Ramsay]. I was really happy. It was a real training camp for the masters of boxing. They’re super good coaches. I’ll be training with Marc and his team. I’m in Dubai, but next week I will go to Montreal to join the team for my training camp. Marc is a real master, a real coach who has had a lot of champions and continues to build champions. To be honest, with my first session with Marc, I was a little bit nervous. Marc is a big coach, I was thinking maybe my style is not interesting for Marc! But after just a few minutes with Marc, I felt really good. I felt in good hands.”
I commented on Asanau’s debut at the Universum Gym in Hamburg in February 2022. A poised and destructive second-round knockout over the (9-14-2) Nicaraguan Nestor Maradiaga caught the eye of the early spectators, slowly trickling to their seats as Asanau opened the 14-fight deep bill. “That first fight, I was only with my manager [Nomaan Ali]. I then signed with Universum about a year later,” Asanau explained. “Those seven fights are done, and now I’m just looking forward. It’s time to show myself on the big stage. Eye of the Tiger is another level. Right now, they have Christian Mbilli; he’s a big name at super middleweight. They have Arslanbek Makhmudov, who’s big at heavyweight, and many other great fighters.
“I like the vision of this promoter. For example: If you look at Matchroom, they have a lot of fighters in one weight category. Eye of the Tiger has less fighters in one category, but they have a lot of highly rated fighters and good connections in boxing. Eye of the Tiger will put me ahead of all the other boxers, which means a lot. Boxing is a short career and hard to predict, but you need to understand who you are working with. They have a great machine that builds their boxers.”
His father inspired Asanau’s route into boxing at a time when professional boxing for Belarusians was nearly non-existent.
“My father was my first coach,” Asanau continued, “my first training camp was when I was three years old. My father is a big coach in my city and my country. Father would do a training camp every summer for two months, from June to August. So every summer since I was three to 17 years old, that is where I trained with him. He was a good boxer; he was the champion of the Soviet Union. It’s why I began boxing. It’s something in my DNA. I was expected to be a good boxer. However, my father didn’t want me to be a boxer. He put me into football training, he put me in wrestling, in table-tennis. Then, one time, he was preparing for a competition, and he asked some guys if they wanted to come to his camp. ‘If you want to train, take one step forward,’ so I did it too. He said, ‘Hey, why are you doing this? You are not ready for competition; you are too young.’ But I said, ‘No, I will go with you.’ In my first competition, I fought a guy three or four years older than me; I was eight years old. Of course, I lost, but after that, around 40 or 50 fights, I didn’t lose. I have a familiar fighting style to my father’s. Right now, he is the head coach of the national team, so it’s very easy for sparring when I go back to Belarus.
“Boxing in Belarus is not so popular right now. People watch ice hockey, tennis, skiing, or football, but not boxing. But, when I did well in the amateurs, fighting at the Olympics and winning the medals at the European and World Championships, a lot more people have started supporting me. The news of me signing for Eye of the Tiger has seen me get a lot of messages from my friends. They are like, ‘Wow, what is going on with Dzima!’ There was one year of silence, but this was a big sign. I’m getting a lot of support from people back in Belarus.”
Asanau joins a stable all teetering on world title bouts, many being fast-tracked to honors from an extensive amateur background. “The plan? It’s hard to predict because it’s all God’s plan,” Asanau added. “I take things step-by-step. Right now, I have this fight on August 17, probably against an experienced guy. Then it all depends on what Marc and what the team say, but I’ll be ready to accept any fight they think I am ready for. With this team, I feel like I am in good hands.”
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