By Alexey Sukachev

It looks like Jamaican light heavyweight-turned-cruiserweight Richard Hall (30-8, 28 KOs), a 40-year-old veteran coming off a knockout victory over former champ O’Neil Bell, considers well-known Russian cruiserweight Grigory Drozd (33-1, 23 KOs) to be just a stepping stone before a future challenge against the top 200lber of the state - Denis Lebedev (23-1, 17 KOs).

“You know, Hall is very serious about knocking Drozd out. He considers him to be just a moderately difficult obstacle on his way up to the bout with Denis Lebedev," said Vladimir Hryunov, Lebedev’s charismatic manager, during a recent talk with R-Sport.

“His wish to alter the scheduled time of his arrival in Moscow says a lot about his determination. He first planned to get into the city on February 6, but now Richard decided to arrive three days earlier."

Drozd versus Hall will be a featured bout on a Moscow night of boxing on February 8 at the “Krylia Sovetov” sports arena. Khabib Allakhverdiev battles Ignacio “Nacho” Mendoza in the main event.

Tags: Denis Lebedev