By Vladimir S: Russian Denis Lebedev (21-0, 16 KO’s) made easy work of 2004 Russian Olympian Alexander Alexeev (19-2, 17 KO’s), stopping him in the 2nd round of a WBO cruiserweight title eliminator bout on Saturday night at the Sport and Congress Center, Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommem, Germany. The southpaw Lededev, 30, ended matters with a short left hook in the 2nd round that caught the 29-year-old Alexeev flush on the side of the head, sending him down on the canvas.
Alexeev attempted to get up, but fell back down. When he did eventually get to his feet, Alexeev stumbled across the ring and collapsed into the ropes. In the meantime, referee Roberto Ramirez had already called a halt to the bout at 2:43 of the 2nd. With this win, Lebedev now becomes the mandatory challenger for WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck, who like Lebedev, is a big slugger known for knocking most of his opponents..
Alexeev never really seemed to get into the fight. Although Alexeev has good power of his own, he doesn’t have the same kind of crushing power that Lebedev possesses. And because of that, Alexeev should have stayed on the move and not tried to exchange with Lebedev so early in the fight. However, Alexeev made it really easy for Lebedev by standing in front of him and trying to trade shots. To his credit, Alexeev landed some nice straight left hands early in the 1st round. But that all changed after Lebedev caught Alexeev with a powerful right-left combination a minute into the round. Lebedev then followed up with four huge left hands in the next 30 seconds, all of which caught Alexeev flush. Those punches seemed to have taken the air out of Alexeev’s game, because he did nothing for the remainder of the round other than throwing a few weak jabs and one left hand in the last seconds of the round. Being an experienced amateur fighter, Alexeev should have known that he needed to use movement against a big puncher like Lebedev. And if he didn’t know this, he should have gotten a clue when Lededev began to tee off on him with left hands. Instead, however, Alexeev continued to stand directly in front of Lebedev and tried to trade with him. In hindsight, it was a dumb fight plan by Alexeev and almost amateurish.
In the 2nd round, Lebedev strolled across the ring and greeted Alexeev with a huge left to the head. Lededev didn’t set up the punch with a jab; he just reached back and slugged Alexeev. Given how many left hands he had been hit with in the 1st round, Alexeev should have been fighting on his heels to avoid getting hit with any additional left hand shots. He wasn’t though. Alexeev continued to stand in front of Lebedev and throw weak looking jabs.
The jabs were pretty much worthless, because they were thrown with no power, no snap and were easily blocked by Lebedev. There wasn’t much activity between the two fighters other than some mutual jabs thrown back and forth. However, Lebedev then began opening up with left hands again, tagging Alexeev with three straight left hands to the head. Alexeev attempted to throw another one of his weak jabs, at which point Lebedev countered with a short left hook to the side of Alexeev’s head, sending him down on the canvas.
Alexeev looked like a drunk as he tried to get to his feet. He should have stayed down for at least a few seconds before trying to get back to his feet, but he foolishly attempted to get up immediately. This was another amateurish mistake by Alexeev. It’s highly doubtful he would survived the round, but if he had at least given himself some time to let his head clear, he might have been able to make it to his feet without falling back down and staggering across the ring.
In other action on the card, WBA/WBO/WIBF female flyweight champion Susi Kentikian (27-0, 16 KO’s) fought to a three round no contest bout with Mexican challenger Arely Mucino (10-0-1, 6 KO’s). The fight was stopped after Kentikian clashed heads with Mucino in the 3rd, opening up a cut on the scalp of Kentikian. Normally, the bouts continue on and the cut is taken care of between rounds. However, Kentikian seemed to be in a lot of pain after the head clash and the ringside doctor opted to halt the fight at 0:27 of the 3rd. Oddly enough, there really wasn’t much blood from Kentikian’s cut. For a scalp cut, it was barely bleeding but it looked like she didn’t continue to fight.
It’s a good thing, though, because she was having major problems with the speed, power and size of Mucino. I had Mucino ahead of the fight two rounds to none at the time of the stoppage, and Kentikian looked noticeably worried in between rounds. Mucino was lighting Kentikian up in the 1st round, catching her again and again with hooks and right hands. Kentikian is probably used to be the faster and stronger fighter. However, in this case, Mucino was clearly the harder puncher and had the faster hands. She also had the better footwork. Mucino, with her long slender legs, moved around the ring with ease, whereas Kentikian looked a lot slower on her feet. For most of the 1st round, Kentikian constantly clinched. She was getting tagged and it looked like Kentikian was clinching to try and smother Mucino’s offense. It didn’t work. Mucino continued to pound Kentikian even in clinches.
In the 2nd round, Kentikian had good luck early in the round, landing lopping right hands and left hooks. However, Mucino really came on in the last minute of the round, and was tagging Kentikian almost at will. Although Kentikian landed a number of good shots early in the round, Mucino landed much more in the last half and her shots looked a lot harder. The difference here is that the German crowd wasn’t sheering for Mucino’s shots. In the last 30 seconds of the round, Mucino landed a flurry of shots, all connecting to the head of Kentikian. Things looked bad for Kentikian at that point. Not only was she getting beaten to the punch, but she also looked afraid and confused in between rounds. She seemed to have no clue what to do.
In the 3rd round, Kentikian lowered her head and charged forward, banging her head against Mucino. Immediately, Kentikian recoiled in pain, and went over to the side of the ropes where the ringside doctor began to examine the cut. There really wasn’t much blood coming from the cut, and the doctor motioned for the fight to continue. However, Kentikian continued to have a look of pain on her face, grimacing and looking as if she didn’t want to fight anymore. The ringside doctor then stopped the fight. I think Kentikian didn’t want any more of Mucino, wasn’t comfortable with her speed, power and size, and just took the easy way out. I’d like to see a rematch between them, but I have a feeling that the fight would be stopped on cuts again.
In other action on the card:
Eduard Gutknecht RTD 2 Michal Bilak
Marcel Meyerdiercks UD 8 Hermin Isava
Vikapita Meroro UD 6 Jevgenijs Andrejevs
Mariusz Wach KO 6 Christian Hammer