On a national level he has the problem that Russian amateur boxing is so talent-laden. In 2006 he lost the final to World silver medallist Roman Romanchuk, in 2007 he beat Sergey Kalchugin but exited early in the quarters against unknown Musalchi Magomedov.
At the Russian nationals 2005 (seniors, 201 lbs) he beat future Olympic gold medallist Rakhim Chakkhiev 36-17 in the semifinal but lost the final to world and European champion Alexander Alexeev. At the Russian nationals 2008 he lost the final to future European and World Champion Egor Mekhontsev 5-19 once again proving he can be outboxed. In absence of Mekhontsev he beat Kalchugin again to win his first Russian Senior Championship in 2009.
