Ruslan Vladimirovich Fayfer (; born 10 May 1991) is a Russian professional boxer. At regional level, he held the Russian heavyweight title in 2015.

Early life and education Fayfer was born on 10 May 1991 in Siberian village Ust-Barguzin. He was drawn to the sport as a small child after watching action films like Bloodsport starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. He dreamed of getting in the ring, but his hometown was too small to have a gym. However, at the age of nine he moved with his family to Dzhubga over 6500 miles away, where they found him a coach and he began his training.

After graduating from high school in Dzhubga, Fayfer studied at Irkutsk State University for five years.

Amateur career Fayfer won Russian junior championships in 2004 and 2005 as well as a gold medal in the light-heavyweight event at the 2010 World University Boxing Championships in the light-heavyweight division.

Professional career Fayfer made his professional debut on 30 August 2013, defeating Ukrainian rival Roman Mirzoev via unanimous decision (UD) in Blagoveshchenskaya, Russia. Two years later, in July 2015, he took the Russian heavyweight title from prospect Vladimir Goncharov by way of majority decision (MD) in Moscow, giving the previously-undefeated fighter his first loss.

For his next fight, he matched up against Argentine veteran Cesar David Crenz in Saint Petersburg on 25 March 2017 for the vacant IBF International cruiserweight title. Fayfer took him down with a left hook to the chin in the first round, and finished him with a liver shot in the second to win the belt. He then stopped Ugandan contender David Basajjamivule in the fourth round of his first title defense that June, also picking up the vacant WBA Asia cruiserweight title in the process. He had three consecutive non-title victories, including one in August 2017 over American Junior Wright for the #2 spot in the IBF rankings. Fayfer suffered his first career defeat on 13 October 2018, losing by unanimous decision (116–111, 115–112, 114–113) to Andrew Tabiti in the cruiserweight quarter-finals of the 2018–19 World Boxing Super Series.

Fayfer faced undefeated compatriot Yury Kashinsky on 30 November 2019 in an IBF title eliminator where Kashinsky's EBP cruiserweight title was also on the line, winning by unanimous decision (115–111, 115–111, 114–112) to earn a future world title bout against Yunier Dorticos.

Personal life Fayfer now lives and trains in Krasnodar.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes37WinMakhmadrazhab Sharipov TKO2 (8), 18 Apr 202536Win31–4–1Dickson Mwakisopile TKO1 (8), 22 Jan 202535Win30–4–1Seyedsina Ghalehbandi UD810 Jun 202434Win29–4–1Alexander Zubkov TKO2 (6), 8 Mar 202433Win28–4–1German Garcia Montes 818 Mar 202332Loss27–4–1Shigabudin AlievTKO6 (10), 31 Mar 202231Draw27–3–1Shigabudin Aliev1030 Oct 202130Win27–3Fabio MaldonadoTKO1 (10), 25 Jun 202129Win26–3Igor VilchitskyKO1 (6), 1 Apr 202128Loss25–3Ali IzmailovTKO9 (10), 20 Nov 202027Loss25–2Alexei PapinTKO6 (12), 22 Aug 202026Win25–1Yury KashinskyUD1230 Nov 201925Win24–1Serhiy RadchenkoUD1019 May 201924Loss23–1Andrew TabitiUD1213 Oct 201823Win23–0Emmanuel DansoTKO4 (10), 9 Jun 201822Win22–0Isaac Paakwesi AnkrahKO2 (10), 3 Nov 201721Win21–0Junior Anthony WrightUD1218 Aug 201720Win20–0David BasajjamivuleTKO4 (12), 10 Jun 201719Win19–0Cesar David CrenzTKO2 (12), 25 Mar 201718Win18–0Fulgencio ZúñigaKO1 (8)12 Nov 201617Win17–0Andrei KniazevUD823 Sep 201616Win16–0Zoltan CsalaKO2 (8), 31 Jul 201615Win15–0Gilberto Matheus DomingosKO2 (8), 6 May 201614Win14–0Oleksandr NesterenkoKO1 (10), 21 Feb 201613Win13–0Olegs LopajevsKO1 (8), 5 Feb 201612Win12–0Sherzod MamajonovTKO4 (10), 18 Jan 201611Win11–0Avaz RustamovTKO2 (10), 23 Dec 201510Win10–0Aziz BillaevTKO3 (10), 10 Aug 20159Win9–0Vladimir Goncharov1019 Jul 20158Win8–0Edgars Kalnārs1 (10), 25 Jun 20157Win7–0Farrukh MadaminovTKO2 (10), 25 May 20156Win6–0Emin Gulmammadov5 (6), 22 Apr 20155Win5–0Sergey BeloshapkinUD825 Jan 20154Win4–0Yuri BarashianUD826 Sep 20143Win3–0Ibragim KhalilovUD618 Apr 20142Win2–0Valentyn Trostyanchuk2 (4), 4 Nov 20131Win1–0Roman Mirzoev430 Aug 2013

References

External links

Ruslan Fayfer profile at rusboxing.ru