Kaliningrad boxer Sergey Gorokhov and his team were attacked by a crowd inside the ring in Turkey following his second-round TKO victory over local fighter Emirhan Kalkan. The incident began when Gorokhov celebrated his win and approached a man in civilian clothes who had entered the ring and yelled at him. After Gorokhov's cornerman Ismail pushed the man, a mob stormed the ring and assaulted Gorokhov and his team. Two cornermen were hospitalized before the entire team fled Trabzon by car to Georgia, removing their Russian license plates for safety. Gorokhov had dropped Kalkan in the first round before finishing him in the second.
A Russian boxer and his corner team were ambushed by a mob inside the ring in Trabzon, Turkey, after Sergey Gorokhov of Kaliningrad earned a second-round TKO victory over local fighter Emirhan Kalkan on April 26, 2026.
Gorokhov had controlled the contest from the opening bell, dropping Kalkan in the first round before stopping him in the second. The violence erupted in the immediate aftermath of the finish, when a man in civilian clothes entered the ring and shouted at Gorokhov. As the boxer moved toward the man, one of his cornermen, identified as Ismail, shoved the individual. That confrontation served as a trigger — a mob then stormed the ring and attacked Gorokhov and his entire team.
Why it matters
- Two members of Gorokhov's corner were hospitalized as a result of the assault.
- The team was forced to flee the city of Trabzon by car, traveling overland to neighboring Georgia.
- Fearing for their safety during the journey, team members removed the Russian license plates from their vehicle before departing.
The incident raises serious concerns about fighter and team safety at combat sports events where crowd control measures prove inadequate. The circumstances surrounding the civilian who entered the ring — and what role, if any, local officials played in the aftermath — remain unclear from initial reports.
