With the Madison Square Garden hockey crowd as alive as it had been in weeks, Igor Shesterkin clung to Jacob Markström’s jersey with his left hand and jabbed. After failing to land a few attempts, the Rangers goalie and his New Jersey Devils counterpart each swung and missed with right hooks.
But the 30-year-old Shesterkin soon found a rhythm. He landed a flurry of right-handed punches on Markström’s back, before successfully making contact with a lefty jab. Eventually Markström lost his balance, and Shesterkin fell to the ice on top of him. Rangers fans, who haven’t had much to cheer about this season, erupted into “I-gor! I-gor!” chants.
Later that Tuesday night, still dripping with sweat after making 22 saves in a 4-1 victory over New Jersey, Shesterkin gave a special shoutout to explain his dominant performance in the bout.
“I just want to say thanks to my boxing coach,” he said to reporters with a grin.
It’s not at all unusual for professional athletes, across many sports, to take boxing lessons for conditioning purposes. NBA stars Damian Lillard and Joel Embiid have been documented in the ring during their respective offseasons, as have quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson. The Chicago Blackhawks even incorporated classes into their 2023 prospect development camp, while several prominent NHL fighters, including Tom Wilson and Max Domi, have gone in part, no doubt, for the pugilistic pointers.
Still many assumed Shesterkin was joking — he often delivers one-line quips during interviews, plus why would a goalie, of all positions, need a boxing coach? But this time, the goalie was perfectly serious. In recent years, he’s stepped out of the crease and into the ring for lessons from Sergey Novikov, a professional boxer and coach based in Miami.
“I didn’t know if I could use it in a real fight or not,” Shesterkin told The Athletic.
Originally from Belarus, the 36-year-old Novikov (whose name is sometimes spelled Siarhei Novikau) won a bronze medal at the 2013 European Amateur Boxing Championships and went on to amass a 14-0 record in professional matches. He’s not retired, but he hasn’t fought since January 2024, either, due to lingering lower-back injuries from a car accident later that year. Training others has become his focus.
Novikov mostly works with mid-level boxers and beginners. But his work has also brought him into contact with public figures seeking out the sport, including popular streamer IShowSpeed, who has more than 50 million subscribers on YouTube. The coach loves sharing his boxing experience with others — famous or not — and believes in its benefits.
“(Boxing) is good for health, for body, for mind,” he says. “You stress less. Everyone should try it at least a few times.”
Several years ago, working out of the popular Miami gym BOXR, Novikov met Shesterkin through fellow coach Shota Tchigladze, who had started giving lessons to the goalie after getting introduced by one of the strength and conditioning trainers. Shesterkin often spends offseason time in Miami when not in his native Russia, and while in south Florida he does strength and conditioning work at BOXR. Novikov began coaching Shesterkin whenever Tchigladze, a native of the country Georgia and a fellow Russian speaker, went out of town.
“As nice as he looks, he has this killer inside him,” Tchigladze says of Shesterkin. “In boxing especially, we don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Shesterkin has performed a variety of drills under Novikov’s tutelage. During one lesson, the coach held up mitts for the goalie to swing at. Shesterkin, his face locked in focus, stood barefoot in the ring, ducking away from Novikov’s mitts before bursting into right-left-right punching combinations. Novikov worked with him on how to use his full body to deliver more forceful punches, and the two have even sparred against each other.
“He’s already at a good level for a beginner,” says Novikov, who saw Shesterkin play hockey in person at the 2026 Winter Classic in Miami. “He’s not pro (level) or amateur even, but for a goalkeeper — for anyone — he’s very good.”
The 6-foot-1 Shesterkin’s confidence jumped out to Novikov during sparring, as he didn’t seem to have any fear going against his 6-5, 220-pound coach. Novikov, not much of a hockey fan before meeting Shesterkin, once asked his pupil whether goalies ever fought. Shesterkin said it rarely happened. But, he added, “Who knows? If it happens, I want to be ready.”
Heading into this season, the NHL hadn’t had a goalie fight since Mike Smith and Cam Talbot dropped their gloves in February 2020. But in the past three months, three pairs of netminders have squared off: San Jose’s Alex Nedeljkovic versus Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, Boston’s Jeremy Swayman versus Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy, and now Shesterkin versus Markström.
“And (Shesterkin) was ready,” Novikov says.
In the third period Tuesday, one night after Madison Square Garden hosted “WWE Raw,” Shesterkin took objection to New Jersey forward Paul Cotter making contact with him in the crease. He joined the ensuing scrum and shoved Cotter. Markström, wanting to spark his team while trailing 4-1, streaked down into the Rangers’ zone. He threw off his catcher and blocker gloves, and Shesterkin did the same.
Shesterkin’s intensity and at-times fiery demeanor are nothing new to his teammates. They were overjoyed by the bout postgame, telling Shesterkin that he “probably won by points,” the netminder recounted. They also surrounded him for a group photo in New York’s dressing room, with defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov raising Shesterkin’s left hand as though he were a victorious prizefighter.
Early in the bout against Markström, said Shesterkin, his mind briefly returned to his boxing lessons. But, he added, “In one second I realized ‘Nothing works right now.’”
Instinct took over, which was no surprise to Novikov.
“When (a fight) is happening I think nobody thinks about what (they’re) doing,” he says. “It’s just going automatically.”
Still, the coach believes preparation creates better instincts, whether for professional boxers or hockey goalies.
“I’m happy for his performance,” says Novikov, who posted an Instagram video with a side-by-side of a Shesterkin training session and the fight against Markström. “He looked very confident, doing a jab and a right overhand. Things he tried in our boxing sessions.”
Like Novikov, as well as the Rangers, Tchigladze was pleased by Shesterkin’s performance. He felt pride watching him fight.
“Thank God he trained,” Tchigladze says. “I have to start promoting my boxing to hockey teams now.”