Artem ‘The Lion’ Levin (50-4-1, 33 KO’s) recently moved from his native Kuzbass, Siberia to the slightly warmer climate of San Diego, California.
He’s now an instructor at The Boxing Club in the University City district. His new home is just a few hours drive from Los Angeles, home of close rival Joe “Stitch ‘Em Up” Schilling (19-6, 11 KO’s), and their current proximity has already led to some interesting developments.
Schilling is a close friend of the UFC welterweight Nick Diaz and was in charge of Diaz’s stand-up training and sparring when he prepared for his recent fight with Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva, the former champion. Schilling took advantage of the opportunity to bring Levin in for a week.
“[Working with Nick Diaz] was a good experience for me. Diaz is a very interesting person. He is like Joe Schilling - sometimes I think he hates everybody. Ha. He has great conditioning, great wrestling, jiu jitsu and good heart,” says Levin.
“But sometimes Nick doesn’t have a plan. Or he has a plan but he doesn’t use it. Or he uses it for the first ten seconds but then he fights without the plan.”
Levin says sparring with Diaz was “interesting - He has good boxing techniques and an aggressive style, he likes to push, push, push. But sometimes this [always going forward] is stupid. I like smart boxing, I like to move. But Nick has a good coach for boxing, I looked at his training and I was impressed.”
Schilling and Levin have now fought twice. Both clashes were in tournament finals with Schilling winning the first (GLORY 10) and Levin winning the second (GLORY 17/LAST MAN STANDING). Fans are very keen to see a trilogy match, but is a new-found friendship going to get in the way?
“We’re not best friends but we are friends and I respect him. For me Joe Schilling is a good guy - he is a difficult person but a good guy. I understand he has emotions; he likes emotions and emotions like him,” he says.
“Outside the ring we are friends and in the ring we are warriors. I like his style, he is hard in the ring, strong fighter, he fights to the last second of the fight. [But] of course we both need this [trilogy] fight.”
The two previous fights have taken place in Los Angeles, giving Schilling home field advantage. Despite now being an honorary Californian himself, Levin would like to have their third fight in his native Russia (Schilling has previously declined this invitation, saying “Let’s have the fight in Hawaii, I hear Hawaii is nice.”)
“I want this fight in Russia and Joe wants it in United States but I already fight with him two times in the United States,” says Levin.
“But for me, if I am best of the best then it doesn’t matter where, when or who I fight. I must be the best wherever the fight happens.”
GLORY’s next event takes place Friday, April 3 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
GLORY 20 DUBAI features a World Lightweight Championship fight between Robin van Roosmalen and challenger Andy Ristie. Also on the card is a four-man Middleweight Contender Tournament. Alex Pereira features along with Wayne Barrett, Jason Wilnis and Simon Marcus. The winner will go forward to challenge Artem ‘The Lion’ Levin for the World Middleweight Championship.
