By Ryan Burton
2012 Olympic light heavyweight bronze medalist Oleksandr Gvozdyk (10-0, 8KOs) received the biggest break of his career when newly crowned WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez suffered an injury to his hand in training.
Ramirez's injury required surgery and his removal from the July 23rd Terence Crawford-Viktor Postol pay-per-view undercard.
One man's loss is another man's gain. Gvozdyk will now appear on the pay-per-view portion of the undercard in a ten round bout against Tommy Karpency (26-5-1), who holds an upset win over former champion Chad Dawson. Last September, Karpency challenged Adonis Stevenson and was knocked out in three rounds.
Gvozdyk's promoter Bob Arum believes the sky is the limit for the Ukrainian.
According to the veteran promoter, even IBF/WBA/WBO l75-pound champion Sergey Kovalev views Gvozdyk as a very dangerous force in the weight division.
In his last ring outing in April, Gvozdyk knocked out world title challenger Nadjib Mohammedi in brutal fashion in the second round. Kovalev knocked out Mohammedi last July in three rounds.
"This guy is sensational. The truth is, next to Kovalev, he is the best light heavyweight in the world. Kovalev says that Gvozdyk is the only guy out there that has a chance to beat him. He is unbelievable. Everybody who has seen him is crazy about him. He is the most intelligent kid. He speaks five languages. He hits like a mule and we are putting him in with a guy who has beaten Chad Dawson and has a tremendous record, a real veteran. This will be his first big exposure to the public on the card. It will be part of the telecast," Arum told BoxingScene.com.
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