Derevyanchenko: Culcay Was Much Tougher Than I Thought

NEW YORK – Sergiy Derevyanchenko readily admits his last performance was far from his most impressive.

Derevyanchenko defeated Jack Culcay by unanimous decision April 13 in Minneapolis to become the IBF’s mandatory middleweight challenger again. The result aside, the Ukrainian contender is largely displeased with how that fight unfolded.

Derevyanchenko discussed the Culcay fight in an interview with BoxingScene.com on Wednesday, before a press conference for his showdown with Gennadiy Golovkin on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

“The first half of the fight was going my way,” Derevyanchenko said. “Something changed in the eighth, ninth round. The momentum of the fight started to change, so I had to make some changes. But that’s stuff that I’m working on, to keep that momentum going the whole fight.”

The awkward, crafty Culcay closed the gap on Derevyanchenko during the second half of that IBF elimination match. Derevyanchenko still won on all three scorecards (116-112, 116-112, 115-113), but he realizes he could’ve performed much better against Germany’s Culcay (26-4, 13 KOs).

“I knew that he was a world-class fighter,” Derevyanchenko said. “I knew that he was a former world champion. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy fight, but it was much tougher than I thought.”

Golovkin feels Derevyanchenko deserved the victory over Culcay, yet the former middleweight champion wasn’t captivated by his upcoming opponent’s outing, either. Golovkin noted that not having his head trainer, Andre Rozier, in his corner could’ve contributed to the way Derevyanchenko boxed Culcay.

“I didn’t like that fight,” Golovkin said. “I didn’t value it much, to be honest. But the situation is different right now. His coach is back. His coach will be in his corner. And it might be the last opportunity for him to demonstrate the skills, demonstrate what he’s capable of. So, I think it should be different this time around. Maybe he’ll go all in this time.”

The 37-year-old Golovkin (39-1-1, 35 KOs) and the 33-year-old Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10 KOs) will fight for the vacant IBF middleweight title in a main event of an eight-bout card DAZN will stream live.

Internet and Las Vegas sports books have typically listed Golovkin as a 5-1 favorite over Derevyanchenko, who has lost only a 12-round split decision to Daniel Jacobs 11 months ago in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Golovkin beat Brooklyn’s Jacobs (35-3, 29 KOs) by unanimous decision in a what was a very competitive 12-rounder in March 2017 at Madison Square Garden.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.