Augustus journeys to Russia for fight

It sounds like the script for a “Rocky” movie.

An American boxer travels halfway around the world to face a highly regarded Russian opponent on his native soil with hundreds of his countrymen ringside, cheering him on.

It’s a real-life situation for Brownsville-fighter Emanuel Augustus. On Friday, he fights a scheduled 12-round bout against Russian champion Sergey Sorokin (25-1-1, 18 knockouts) in Yubileyny, Russia.

Sorokin’s WBO Asia-Pacific light welterweight title will be at stake.

“I’ve done a lot of traveling, but I’ve never actually fought in Russia before,” said Augustus (35-28-6, 18 KOs). “I’ve heard a lot of noise about Russian fighters and how they’re supposedly on the rise. I know that I’m in for a strong test. Part of me is kind of scared, but the other part of me is pretty excited because it’s a title fight plus it’s a fight that could help put me back on people’s minds as someone who is coming up to the top level.

“This guy is definitely no pushover, but I’m still in the situation in my career where I can’t afford to lose any more fights,” Augustus, 32, added. “I’m in excellent condition, I’m excited and I’m ready to go.”

Since he’s fighting on his opponent’s turf, Augustus said he realizes it probably will take a knockout to gain the victory.

“I think this is one of the few fights I’ve ever had where I don’t want it to do the distance,” Augustus said. “That would be almost like a curse for me. I want to win — I want to win quickly and I want to be impressive.”

Augustus and trainer Robert Campos left for Russia last weekend to give the fighter time to adapt to a much different environment than South Texas.

“This is another opportunity for Emanuel to fight for a title,” Campos said. “Whatever type of style this guy brings, we’ll adjust to it. Realistically, Emanuel has to go over there and knock him out because we’re going to be fighting in this guy’s backyard. It’ll be like we’re fighting against the whole country, really, because everyone’s going to be against us.”

Sorokin’s last eight fights have taken place in either Russia or Germany. He will be making his fourth title defense against Augustus. He captured the vacant WBO Asia-Pacific title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Victor Hugo Castro in Ekaterinburg, Russia, on Dec. 3, 2006.

In his last fight, Sorokin, 28, defeated Ante Bilic on an eight-round unanimous decision on July 6 in Germany.

In Augustus’ last bout on April 18, he captured an eight-round unanimous decision over Marteze Logan in Kansas City, Mo.

“I don’t know exactly what kind of level to put this guy (Sorokin) on because I’ve never fought a Russian before,” Augustus said. “I look forward to fighting him, though, and again, however tough he might be, I’m still looking at coming back home with the WBO Asia-Pacific title.”