Russian cruiserweight and former champ Denis Lebedev has announced his retirement from the sport – At age … continue
The career of the seriously tough and battle-hardened Denis Lebedev could be reaching its finale. With a … continue
Eddie Hearn’s latest fight card in Monaco comes this Saturday and it could prove to be a … continue
Politics, politics. In what could prove to be bad news for Tony Bellew, and possibly frustrating news … continue
Ranking fighters across different eras is a very tricky business. In Part 1 of the new “Top … continue
This August’s huge Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor crossover Super Fight sure has started a trend. In light of the staggering amount of money and interest the Boxing Vs. MMA fight generated, a number of other fighters from both disciplines are set to follow suit.
WBA cruiserweight title holder Denis Lebedev (30-2, 22 KOs) got back on the winning track tonight in beating Australian Mark Flanagan (22-4, 15 Kos) in defeating him by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision on Sunday night in front of a big crowd at the DIVS in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
Whether you agreed with the verdict or not, the recent Jeff Horn-Manny Pacquiao fight and its outcome gave Australian boxing one enormous lift. The biggest fight in Australian boxing history, underdog Horn’s upset win over the all time great attracted around 55,000 fans, and the rematch (likely though not definite) could be even bigger.
Tonight at The Ice Palace in Moscow, unbeaten challenger Murat Gassiev scored a 12-round split decision victory over defending IBF cruiserweight champ Denis Lebedev. The new champion, now 24-0(17) prevailed via scores of 116-112 and 116-111, the third judge had it 114-113 for Lebedev, who is now 29-3(22).
A very tough, hard-fought battle, tonight’s main event saw both men take plenty of punches. Lebedev, the older man by a substantial 14 years at age 37, used his underrated boxing skills when he could, using plenty of movement and pumping out his sharp southpaw jab. Gassiev, so dangerous a puncher, stalked his man and though he was guilty of being one-paced at times, the challenger was both catching Lebedev with shots and making the older man work.
Mandatory challenger Murat Gassiev battles unified cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev in bout that has explosive written all over it. The cruiserweight division is for the most part off the radar away from mainstream attention. Many of the sports long list of legends in the past reigned at middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight. Never a glamour division however in recent years it’s consistently produced great fights and top-ten matchups.
It’s been a nice alternative to many of the heavyweights nowadays, who are too large to keep an active punch rate and often end up gassing out midway thru a fight. The cruisers tend to be in better physical shape but still pack a punch which is the case in this unification dust-up. Take the two-belt champion in Denis Lebedev as example. He comes to fight, doesn’t lack power, and has a helluva chin. Murat Gassiev prefers to stalk his opponent and poses real one-punch knockout power which is evident by a nasty left hook ‘KO of the year’ candidate landed in his last fight in May.