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Alexei “Red Scorpion” Ignashov signs new management contract

Peter Drucker: Sonkin manages Team Red Scorpion!
The waiting and bickering, not to mention the unease of worrying about representation and his fight future has been largely put to bed. Finally the word is out and it is official- Alexei Ignashov has signed an exclusive contract to be managed by Serge Sonkin, long time friend, associate and countryman.

This means an effective end to the dramatic foreplay and palpitacious negotiation, or something of its nature with his long time, and articulately Trump like Igor Jushko. Alexei who was scheduled to fight last December on the ETK DFR 3 promotion, who pulled out due to the displeasure of  K-1- who in short communicated to him through Jushko, that Alexei fighting on any other show is uncomfortable.

It has been common knowledge that Jushko had been negotiating a re-negotiation of his contract with Ignashov, where we reliably understand that the managerial fee has been nothing short of exorbitant considering the services which were to be provided. This coupled with a whole raft of other mumbo-jumbo, which we refuse to be drawn into, which we shall save for a publication such as New Idea, eventually caused the fighter to sever ties with his ex-manager.

When ROGUE contacted Sonkin with regards to this matter, he mentioned that a lengthy process of meetings and negotiations which involved the top brass of  K-1 and Jushko had taken place over a year or so. Having lead to a dead lock right through out, we understand as reported before- Serge was the man who looked after Alexei’s affairs and expenses whilst in New Zealand. He cites “A very close friendship and relationship, where I wanted to help Alexei sort out his life more than any managerial work or fight promotion”.

Sonkin had this to say via a brief, exclusive emailed release to ROGUE…

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“My position is very simple; what is good for Alexei is good for me.


Alexei made his own decision to come to New Zealand to restart his personal life and professional career, my role became that of a friend and mentors in order for Alexei to rid himself of bad habits and restart his career on a positive note.  All plans that we made together with his former coach and good friend of mine, Andrei Grindin, Dixon McIvor and Igor Jushko came to nothing.  The main reason of this was conflict within the parties.  I am not against people having their opinion, but my question is a very simple one – how far can you go to look after your own interests while negatively impacting on another’s life to achieve these goals?

Alexei always wanted to fight in K-1, with his own goal of being the K-1 Champion.


I was doing everything possible to help Alexei fight in 2007.  I meet with Daiski in Prague, Tanigawa in Japan, writing letters to the K-1 and Jushko.  The outcome as you are aware is that they isolated Alexei and started to blackmail him.  We were following all their instructions to get Alexei back into the ring.  During this period of time, Alexei trained hard and was in a mental state that would have given him the best opportunity to fight and beat the best competitors in the world – a chance he never received.

My view is that people such as Jushko shouldn’t be involved in the sport.  People like him only think of themselves, not the athletes who make them money or the impact that they have on the athlete.  They treat athletes as tools of the trade; this in my view is unacceptable.

Alexei was unable to fight in 2007 as a result.  What this means is that he has lost both financially and mentally.  No fights equals no income.  During this time, I was supporting Alexei, covering his living costs, car, training and the immigration to NZ of his partner.  All that time I was acting as a friend, not his manager.

From a business point of view, we wish to create a Red Scorpion team and develop Alexei as a fighter as a brand to help secure his financial future.  I have significant business experience, am interested in sports and a team of people wanting to help Alexei achieve his goals.  We are currently creating a website for Alexei to give fans an insight to Alexei, the man and the fighter.”


It comes as concrete evidence as to what ROGUE was saying all along as far as the inevitable happening. Since the Jushko-Ignashov alliance was looking paper thin at getting any pen on paper, McIver and the KO WS who has Ignashov as their organisational logo has positioned all things right, where magnetism of conflict of interest won’t rise.

Sonkin who is a multi-millionaire property developer in Auckland, who heads his own diverse conglomerate in various businesses, has done extremely well to secure Ignashov. Alexei confirmed Sonkin comments and statement on how he had personally helped him get back on his feet. There would be no real reason for Ignashov to lie, as he finds the present situation user friendly and comfortable.

Team Red-Scorpion sounds exciting, almost like a Dolph Lundgreen movie placed on a set of the Scorpion King! Hopefully this will go to show that managing fighters is unlike the Merchant of Venice, where a pound of flesh can’t be extracted without spilling blood!