He may be a relative unknown in the boxing world, but Andrei Mikhailovich is confident everyone will know his name on Saturday. He will fight undefeated Janibek Alimkhanuly in Las Vegas for the unified middleweight championship, but the massive underdog label he carries (Alimkhanuly is -1600 according to ESPN BET) is nothing compared to what Mikhailovich has faced in the past.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Mikhailovich and his twin brother, Nikolai, were adopted by parents from Fresh Zealand at a juvenile age. They still call that country home.
“Where I come from, it’s a really cool, challenging world where I don’t know my way around. [biological] parents or who my parents are,” Mikhailovich told ESPN. “I have tapes of the first time Nikolai and I met Mom and Dad. So once a year, around June, we sit down and watch it together, which is always pretty emotional.
“But it’s really strange to see yourself meeting your parents for the first time. It’s strange in a way that I was given away in a way that people shouldn’t be given away. I always felt like I was different from my peers. I always felt like I didn’t know if I was meant to live in this part of the world.”
The boys were taken in by loving parents Paula and Marcel, but Andrei had struggled with drug and alcohol addiction since he was 12, stemming from his adoption and trying to find his place in the world.
“I just started drinking like a son of a bitch, man,” Mikhailovich said. “I was kind of lost. I was 12 and it was just like, [getting] crushed for no reason. Just wasted to feel good.
“I got into so many fights at school and drank all the time. I went to drug and alcohol counseling when I was 12. Can you believe that?”
It’s a tale as elderly as boxing itself. A kid on the wrong side of the road is pulled in by a trainer who throws him a pair of gloves. Luckily for Mikhailovich, that trainer was Isaac Peach, who helped him fight his way to a world title. A tough, no-nonsense trainer, Peach brings his fighters to the gym he built in his West Auckland home, where he puts them through their paces.
The pair began working together, but Mikhailovich admits he wasn’t fully committed at first until Peach told him to get his act together. They haven’t looked back since. “I didn’t talk to him for a week or two and he texted me and said, ‘What’s going on?’ And I was like, ‘Oh man, I’m not sure,’” Mikhailovich said. “He just texted me back and said, ‘Bring the gloves on Monday.’”
This was a turning point in Mikhailovich’s life. His drinking stopped and he began working as an engineering apprentice to support his juvenile family. Boxing soon became an obsession.
“I just went to a random fight and we went to [21-0]. Now I’m fighting for the world title. It’s so crazy,” Mikhailovich said. “Oh, and then I finished my internship and got married and had two kids and stuff, which is pretty cold. But yeah, it was pretty crazy.”
As the biggest fight of his life approaches, Mikhailovich, so confident in his abilities, usually takes a nonchalant approach. When asked if his family would be there to see him enter the ring for one of the most essential moments of his life, his response was blunt and cool. “F— no. It’s my job,” Mikhailovich said.
“I recently told my dad, ‘I feel like I came into this world alone and I have to conquer this peak by myself,’” Mikhailovich said. “He said, ‘I really want to come to Vegas and watch this.’ And I said no.”
The 26-year-old, who has waited two years to fight for the title, respects Alimkhanuly but has no intention of backing down either in or out of the ring.
“When he screws up, I’ll throw myself at him,” Mikhailovich said. “What can [people] expect? They can expect me to win and win in a way that shocks a lot of people. I think Janibek will be surprised with his life, to be completely truthful. He’s my destiny. I have a lot of respect for him, but I believe he will lose.”
While Mikhailovich focused on fulfilling that destiny, he took a moment to appreciate how far he had come, not as a warrior, but as a man.
“I think about my life and I think about how crazy it was, and the journey I’ve been on is quite emotional because I started from nothing,” Mikhailovich said. “If you want to think about the coldest, hardest place in the world, it’s the end of the Soviet Union. [Union] from ’94 to about 2003. It was a tough, cool place. And that’s where I come from, you know, so for me to be here as a man, as a father, as a warrior, it’s already an impossible journey.
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