Pavel Zhuravlev (kickboxer)

Pavel Zhuravlev (Ukrainian: Павло Журавльов, Pavlo Zhuravlov; Russian: Павел Журавлёв; born July 27, 1983) is a Ukrainian heavyweight kickboxer and boxer, the 2012 SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix Tournament Champion, 2013 Legend Fighting Show -93 kg Tournament Champion and 2012 K-1 World Grand Prix Final Semifinalist.

As of 1 April 2019, he is ranked the #2 light-heavyweight in the world by Combat Press.

Biography and career
After graduation from the Nakhimov Naval Academy in Sevastopol Zhuravlev is since 2010 lieutenant in the Ukrainian Navy.

After winning various tournaments in the WBKF, a Russian kickboxing circuit, Pavel made his K-1 debut on August 2, 2009 at K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Seoul against Gokhan Saki and won by decision.

On December 16, 2010, he took part in the 16-man tournament at KOK World GP 2010 in Moscow and went on to win the Grand Prix by defeating Prince Ali, Evgeny Orlov and Alexey Kudin.

On October 1, 2011, Pavel Zhuravlev advanced to Superkombat World Grand Prix Final in Darmstadt, Germany, joining Sergei Lascenko and Ismael Londt. Zhuravlev won the third event of the series from Brăila, Romania, defeating Ricardo van den Bos and Sebastien van Thielen via unanimous decisions.

He faced Saulo Cavalari in a non-tournament bout at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 in Tokyo Final 16 on October 14, 2012 and won via unanimous decision.

He won a unanimous decision over Freddy Kemayo on November 10, 2012 in Craiova, Romania at the SuperKombat World Grand Prix 2012 Final Elimination, which is the quarter-finals of the SuperKombat World Grand Prix 2012.

He fought Benjamin Adegbuyi in the semi-finals at the SuperKombat World Grand Prix 2012 Final on December 22, 2012 in Bucharest and won the fight by KO after 25 seconds. In the final, Zhuravlev rematched Ismael Londt. This time the outcome was reversed as Zhuravlev became champion after extra round unanimous decision.

Despite having not qualified for the tournament, Zhuravlev replaced Makoto Uehara to fight at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 Final on March 15, 2013 in Zagreb, Croatia. After defeating Cătălin Moroşanu by unanimous decision in the quarter-finals, he was eliminated by the eventual winner, Mirko Cro Cop, by the same margin in the semis.

He earned first round TKO victory over Luca Panto at Final Fight Championship 3: Jurković vs. Cătinaș in Split, Croatia on April 19, 2013.

He lost to Hesdy Gerges by unanimous decision at Final Fight Championship 6 in Poreč, Croatia on June 14, 2013.

He won the -93 kg/205 lb tournament at Legend 2: Invasion in Moscow, Russia on November 9, 2013. After TKOing Sahak Parparyan in round one in the semi-finals, he was set to face Zabit Samedov in the final but Samedov was forced to withdraw due to a cut and was replaced by Agron Preteni. He also beat Preteni by TKO, this time in round two.

He rematched Benjamin Adegbuyi at the SuperKombat World Grand Prix 2013 Final in Galați, Romania on December 21, 2013, losing by third round KO.

Following the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea Zhuravlev moved to Odessa and continued his career in the Ukrainian navy.

Zhuravlev was expected to face Tomasz Szczepkowski at Legend 3: Pour Homme in Milan, Italy on April 5, 2014 but Szczepkowski withdrew for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by fellow Pole Michal Turynski two days before the fight. Zhuravlev defeated Turynski via majority decision.

Zhuravlev faced Saulo Cavalari of Brazil in the headline event at Glory 43 Super Fight Series on July 14, 2017 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. Zhuravlev defeated Cavalari via unanimous decision (30–26, 30–26, and 29–27).

Titles

 * Kickboxing
 * 2019 interim FEA World Grand Prix Heavyweight Champion.
 * 2017 Interim Glory Light Heavyweight Champion.
 * 2016 FFC Light Heavyweight Championship (-95 kg)
 * 2013 Legend Fighting Show -93 kg tournament champion
 * 2012 K-1 World Grand Prix Final semifinalist
 * 2012 SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix Tournament champion
 * 2011 SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III champion
 * 2010 KOK World GP 2010 in Moscow champion
 * 2009 W5 (+96 kg) Heavyweight champion
 * 2009 W5 Grand Prix tournament champion
 * 2009 WBKF European Heavyweight champion (-93 kg)
 * 2009 WBKF World Super Heavyweight champion (+93 kg)
 * 2008 WBKF World Super Heavyweight champion (+93 kg)
 * 2008 WBKF European Super Heavyweight champion (+93 kg)
 * 2007 WBKF European Heavyweight champion (-93 kg)
 * 2007 Gladiators of Ukraine - Lviv K-1 Grand Prix champion
 * 2006 SNG Thaiboxing Heavyweight (91 kg) title
 * 2006 WBKF European Cruiserweight (86 kg) title
 * 2005 SNG (WBKF) Kickboxing Heavyweight champion (-93 kg)
 * 2004 King's Cup at Bangkok, Thailand champion
 * Boxing
 * 2012 Bigger’S Better 13 tournament runner-up
 * 2010 Bigger’S Better 1 tournament runner-up