Even in a division known for its heavy hitters, Dmitriy Shokin stands out. But his closest competitor is his closest ally …
In combat sports, heavyweights are always crowd favorites: Think Muhammed Ali and Mike Tyson in pro boxing, think Fedor Emelianenko and Brock Lesnar in MMA. And so it is with taekwondo: In the Moscow Grand Prix Series 1, everyone was keen to watch the big boys do battle.
When the smoke cleared in the Dinamo Gymnasium, the last man standing in the men’s +80kg division was Uzbekistan’s Dmitriy Shokin. In his bouts, Shokin struck with power that was – well, shocking: The “thwack” impact of his kicks on his opponents’ body protector drew crowd gasps, and were audible even from the venue’s highest seats. His opponent in the final, Russia’s Vladislav Larin, employed classic understatement when asked what it felt like to be on the receiving end of Shokin’s shots: “Not very pleasant!” he said.
Looking at the 23-year-old blond giant today – Shokin is built like a brick battleship – it is difficult to believe that he first took up taekwondo for self-defense. “When I was 7 years old, I started it to protect myself from certain people,” he said. But there was another inspiration: popular culture. “At that time I was watching a lot of Jackie Chan movies and I wanted to learn to fight like him,” he added.
He certainly did that – though his original style was ITF. That caused some problems in the transition. “I did ITF taekwondo for 11 years and only five years ago, started training WTF, so I think that is why I only started to get results from last year,” he said. “In the ITF, I was a face puncher and sometimes, in WTF competition, I did that too!”
Those old habits have now been comprehensively erased. The native of the Uzbek capital of Tashkent is one of the biggest names and most recognizable players on the competitive circuit. While there are many tall, lithe and leggy fighters across taekwondo’s weight divisions, Shokin’s rock-like physique generates formidable presence.
Yet he speaks softly and is modest about his skills. “I use simple kicks – push kicks and side kicks – and sometimes I kick to the head,” he said. “So my fights are not that beautiful, but they get the results.”
Shokin may be underselling himself: In his final fight against Larin, he employed dance-like arm and body feints – crowd-pleasing tactics often used by one of the most dominant and most stylish players on the circuit, Iran ‘s Mahdi Khodabakhshi. Incidentally, Shokin cites the Iranian as his most admired fighter.
2015 is proving to be a vintage year for the Uzbek, with Shokin capturing first-place finishes in every tourney he has entered: The Chelyabinsk World Championships, the Gwangju Summer Universiade, the Chuncheon Korean Open and now the Moscow Grand Prix, he said on the sidelines. “I want to keep the prestige of the world champion!” he said, meaningfully.
One secret to his success is a paradox that many fighters mention: Don’t focus on the outcome; instead, enjoy the moment. “From this year, my main priority has been to enjoy my fights,” he said. “When I think about victory, I cannot concentrate.”
That does not mean he is not confident. Asked to describe himself, Shokin said matter-of-factly, “I am a simple guy from Uzbekistan who is going to become an Olympic champion.”
If that happens, he can expect a generous reward. A full-time athlete, all his training, living and competition expenses are paid for by the Uzbek federation. Currently, he trains four times a day and is only at home four days a month, but in his downtime, enjoys photography and photographic enhancement with software. In the future he would like to found his own company – “not a sport, business, I don’t know what kind yet” – which would be enabled by medals in Rio and/or Tokyo: “If I take gold, I will have enough money to start a business.”
However, as Rio 2016 starts to cast its shadow over the competition circuit, an unhappy situation is brewing at the top of the heavyweight division.
While Shokin is world-ranked number four – after Moscow, he moves up to the number two slot – the top ranked fighter in the male +80kg division is Shokin’s teammate and fellow Uzbek Jasur Baykuziyev. Due to nationality limitations in each weight class, only one of the pair will be able to qualify for the Olympics.
“In Uzbekstan we are friendly; I call him ‘my brother’ and we respect each other,” Shokin said. “But he wants to go and I want to go; we are opponents.” Clearly, he is frustrated. “If the first six athletes qualify for the Games, why can’t two from the same country?” he asked. “If me and the other Uzbek are the best in the category, why can’t we both fight in the Games?”
The answer to that is that sometimes, sport can be cruel. That bitter reality, over the rest of 2015, ignited a “brother-versus-brother” rivalry as the two heavy hitting Uzbeks embarked on their road to Rio – a destination that only one could reach.
