By Edward Chaykovsky
IBO cruiserweight champion Danny Green has no interest in facing the WBO's top rated boxer, Denis Lebedev. After Lebedev knocked out Roy Jones Jr. on Saturday night in Moscow, the Russian boxer and his trainer, Kostya Tszyu, challenged Green to a fight. Green returns on July 20th in Sydney to defend his title against former champion Antonio Tarver. He downplayed the recent win by Lebedev, stating that it took the big puncher ten rounds to get the job done. Green stopped Jones in the first round in 2009. Green wants to beat Tarver and then wants to target a fight with WBC/IBO champion light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins.
"Of course they are going to try and make a name for themselves by calling me out," he said. That is not surprising. What is surprising is that it took the guy 10 rounds to take Roy Jones out and he did it with one second remaining. That's three straight (losses by Jones Jnr) but he nearly knocked the guy out in the ninth. And it was a competitive fight for 10 rounds, that's amazing. There's no higher priority than Antonio Tarver - then there's Bernard Hopkins," Green told AAP on Monday.
