By Rick Reeno
There is a world title mess brewing with Saturday's highly anticipated cruiserweight showdown in Russia.
Several sources with knowledge of the details have advised BoxingScene.com that promoter Andrei Ryabinsky of World of Boxing, who handle IBF/WBA cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev (29-2, 22KOs), has applied for a special permit with the World Boxing Association to make the upcoming fight with mandatory challenger Murat Gassiev (24-0, 17KOs) a non-title encounter.
Gassiev is the mandatory challenger under the IBF. Basically, Lebedev's team is attempting to keep the WBA title - win or lose - on Saturday. The WBA has not made an official ruling on Levedev's request, but they are expected to do so on Thursday.
Gassiev was expecting to fight for both belts, but now that may not be the case. From what BoxingScene was told, Gassiev and his handlers were completely caught off-guard by this recent maneuver by Lebedev.
To make matters worse, a purse bid was recently held for the mandatory fight between WBA 'regular' cruiserweight champion Beibut Shumenov and challenger Yunier Dorticos. The winner of this contest is expected to face the winner of Lebedev vs. Gassiev - who battle for the WBA's "super" version of the cruiserweight crown.
The sanctioning body is working hard to eliminate the issue of having multiple WBA world titles per division and they want the two world champions in this weight class to face each other next.
If the WBA rules in Lebedev's favor, there could be a scenario where the Shumenov-Dorticos winner will be facing the loser instead of the winner (provided Gassiev wins).