Vyacheslav Senchenko (, ; born 12 April 1977) is a Ukrainian former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 2002 to 2015, and held the WBA

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

(Regular) title from 2009 to 2012.

Amateur career

Senchenko represented Ukraine at the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, competing in the

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

division and losing in the round of 16.

Professional career

Senchenko made his professional debut in July 2002 and by his fourth bout won the WBC CIS and Slovenian Boxing Bureau (CISBB)

title, a title he defended against Dzmitri Kashkan February 2003 and that September against Russian Evgeny Ershov. On April 8, 2004, Senchenko won the IBF Inter-Continental welterweight title, stopping Aliaksandr Shnip after just three rounds in Donetsk. He went on to defend four times in the next year and a half, with defeats of Bagaza Mwambene, Cesar Alberto Leiva, Arthur Nowak and French champion Brice Faradji. At the start of 2006, Senchencko now unbeaten at 16-0 with 11 knockouts moved away from the Inter-Continental title and faced Kazakh, Assan Seksenbayev for the IBF International welterweight title. Senchenko once again emerged victorious in front of his home crowd in the Druzhba Arena in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

. That September he defended at Druzhba once more with a TKO win over Stephane Benito. In November professionally fought outside of Eastern Europe for the first time, going to Monaco to defeat Italian Vincenzo Finzi on the undercard of a Roman Greenberg bout. His high activity with Union Boxing Promotions continued. Just the next month he was back in Donetsk to fight for add the EBU-EE (European External European Union) welterweight title to his collection against Giorgi Ungiadze. Now somewhat of a permanent fixture at the Druzhba, Senchenko defended this title there four more times in 2007. The last of the year came against fellow Ukrainian Viktor Sydorenko, in a fight also for the WBA Inter-Continental welterweight title. Sydorenko's corner threw in the towel in the third, adding yet another second rate international title to Senchenkos repertoire. In 2008 he would defend the WBA Inter-Continental welterweight title three more times at the Druzhba, with wins against Stuart Elwell, EBU champion Frederic Klose and Brazilian Adonisio Francisco Reges. After this success, the WBA ranked him 3rd in the world, putting him in path for a World Championship bout.

WBA welterweight champion

In 2009 Senchenko finally got the chance to fight for a world title. On April 10, 2009 he would face fellow Ukrainian and WBA (regular) World champion Yuriy Nuzhnenko. This was a landmark bout, as for the first time in almost twenty years since paid boxing made its entrance into the former Soviet Union, two local fighters would clash against each other for the legitimate (regular) world championship in their Homeland. Both fighters went into the bout unbeaten and with 28 wins. In a hard fought bout Senchenko dominated on the judges cards and won by Unanimous decision after 12 rounds.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Senchenko, Vyacheslav 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Kremenchuk Ukrainian male boxers World Boxing Association champions World welterweight boxing champions Light-welterweight boxers Boxers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Ukraine