Victor Oganov, a Fireball Coming Out of the Amateurs, Keeps Plugging Away

Victor Oganov, now 43 years old, just won’t go away. On Nov. 9, Oganov is scheduled to fight Ben Sila (8-0) in St Marys, New South Wales, Australia.

Victor Oganov was one of the earlier Eastern Euro boxers. He was of Russian and Armenian descent and like his good friend Vic Darchinyan now lives in Perth, Australia. He was 64-16 as an amateur before beginning his professional career in 1998 in St. Petersburg, Russia with a TKO win.

In January of 2001, in his first fight outside Russia, he TKOed trial horse Michael Alexander in Coventry, England. Seven fights later, he stopped terribly limited New Zealander Sam Leuii (12-12-1) in Sydney, Australia. That brought Oganov’s record to 18-0, all coming by way of stoppage.

Oganov had four more fights in Australia and two in Russia before making his U.S. debut in January of 2007 against Richard “The Alien” Grant in Anaheim, CA. This was Oganov’s first fight against an opponent with a recognizable name. (Grant’s major claim to fame was that he had been knocked out cold by “The Harlem Hammer,” James Butler. This occurred after their infamous fight in November 2001 when Butler lived up to his nickname and hammered the unsuspecting “Alien” after the fight with his bare fist. It was a dark day in New York City boxing history but at least Grant got the UD win while Butler got some well-deserved jail time.)

By the time the Russian met Grant in Anaheim, Grant was visibly shop-worn, having just been KO’d by Librado Andrade. Oganov did not disappoint and stopped Grant in the second round, prompting the New Yorker by way of Jamaica to wisely retire at 19-15-1.

Oganov was now 26-0 with all 26 wins coming by stoppage. However, the combined won-loss record of his opponents was 170-177-14, raising serious questions about just how formidable he was. If KOs are your thing, then Victor might just be what the doctor ordered, but something was missing.

Nevertheless, 26-0 is 26-0 and adding to his perceived aura, Team Oganov began calling out the likes of Danny Green, Denis Inkin, Chad Dawson, Carl Froch, The Contender finalist Peter Manfredo Jr and Jeff Lacy. In fact, the now world rated light heavyweight offered to step in for the injured Manny Siaca who was scheduled to face Danny Green on May 30 in Perth. Oganov reportedly offered to fight Green for free. His trainer at the time, Jeff Fenech, even offered a wager of $50,000, but Team Green would have nothing to do with Team Oganov.

Thus, with a perfect record of 26-0 and rated WBO #5, WBC # 17 and WBA # 13 in the light heavyweight division, he signed up to fight Colombian KO artist Fulgencio Zuniga (19-2-1) on Sept. 1, 2007, in Tacoma, Washington. The vacant IBO world super middleweight title would be at stake and questions would be answered about this fearsome Aussie by way of Russia.

Fulgencio’s two losses were to Daniel Santos in a WBO world super welterweight title fight and to future world middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (26-0). While the Columbian would hit the skids in and around 2011, he presented a formidable test for Oganov at this stage of his career and the smart money was looking at this fight the way Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal studied prospective bets from his perch in Las Vegas.

Zuniga’s experience against far better competition and his all-around better technical skills would be his main advantage against a guy who was looking for his 27^th straight KO. He was more than a live underdog.

After losing the opening round, Zuniga swept the last seven on the judges’ scorecards. He then upped the pace and battered and stopped Oganov in the ninth round after decking Oganov with a left hook that left him flat on his back.

“I never felt like myself in there…I don’t make excuses, but I injured a rib in February and maybe I came back too soon. I lacked my usual zip. Maybe I was head-hunting too much, I don’t know. What I do know is that I never could connect with my best punch,” said Oganov after the fight.

“This was not an easy fight and Oganov was very strong.” Said Zuniga, but he was being kind. Oganov, while heavy-handed, was overly offensive-minded and could be picked apart by any opponent who exploited his lack of defensive skills, especially a good counterpuncher.

The Russian bounced back with two quick KO wins in 2008 bringing his record to a still eyebrow-raising 28-1 (28 KOs), but then he would be stopped again, this time by Andre Dirrell (16-0) and the shine began to wear off.

Two more wins in 2009 set up an interesting rough and tumble battle with young Garth “From the Hood” Wood which Victor would lose by MD. This further exposed the Russian as more flash than substance. Oganov’s absence of stiff opposition on the way up was rapidly catching up with him. This bout was in the semi-finals of Season 1 of the Australian version of The Contender reality television series. (As an aside, Wood would go on to win the tournament, earning him a shot at Anthony Mundine. His KO of Mundine in 2010 was a monster upset, but Wood lost the rematch and retired in 2014 with a record of 12-4-1.)

Undefeated Michael Bolling (11-0) TKOd Oganov in 2010 and then Brad Pitt (11-0) retired the Russian with another stoppage loss in November of 2011. By then Oganov was competing as a cruiserweight. (Brad Pitt, alias “Hollywood,” retired in 2016 with a record of 19-1.)

 The “Comeback”

Following a now familiar trend of ill-advised comebacks, Victor Oganov returned in 2016 to KO hapless Jae Bryce (3-6) but then disappeared for over two years before coming back in 2018, only to get KOd by streaking Demsey McKean (11-0) and then by Jason Whatteley (4-0) in June of this year.

The days of calling out the likes of Danny Green, Chad Dawson and Carl Froch are long gone for Victor Oganov. Luckily, these overtures were never taken seriously. Hopefully, the affable Oganov, now 32-7, will call it quits after the Sila fight on Nov. 9.

Ted Sares can be reached at tedsares@roadrunner.com

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