By Igor Lazorin, tass
Russian cruiserweight contender Denis Lebedev will make a request to the leadership of the World Boxing Association (WBA) to hold an interim fight before making a showdown with the winner of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS).
Lebedev was the WBA cruiserweight champion, but because of injuries and inactivity he was downgraded to a "champion in recess."
The full WBA title was given over to Cuba's Yunier Dorticos, who was knocked out by Murat Gassiev in the WBSS semi-finals.
The winner of that over WBSS was ordered to face Lebedev in a mandatory fight.
"We will ask the WBA leadership to conduct an interim battle, as I have not boxed for a long time. It's not a good idea to go out against the winner of the world boxing super series [with such inactivity] - it's not a good idea, and it's not the way that I would like to enter the fight, " said the 38-year-old Lebedev.
"If the WBA denies us, then we will hold an unofficial fight [as an exhibition]. I already have an opponent who has wanted to fight with me for a long time. There will be spectators, the fight will be for money, but unofficially," the athlete added.
Lebedev, in accordance with the resolution of the WBA, must fight with the WBSS winner. In total, the Russian boxer has a record of 30 wins (22 by KO) and two defeats.
The final fight of the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament will be contested between Gassiev and Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine. All four of the major sanctioning titles - the IBF, WBA, IBF, WBC - will be up for grabs in the contest.
Lebedev, who is trained by veteran coach Freddie Roach, has not been in the ring since July of 2017 when he dominated Mark Flanagan of Australia over twelve rounds.