By Jake Donovan
Denis Lebedev successfully turned back the challenge of Youri Kalenga, retaining his cruiserweight belt with a 12-round decision Friday evening in Moscow, Russia.
Scores were 116-110, 116-111 and 115-112. Both fighters were dropped, with Lebedev down towards the end of round four, and Kalenga decked in round seven. The latter knockdown seemed to permanently change the direction of the fight, as Lebedev never relinquished his lead, even if the 116-110 tally was a bit too wide.
The bout began slow, and for the most part served as a tactical affair. Lebedev seemed to jump out to an early lead, as Kalenga struggled to find his rhythm, and was unable to really give the defending titlist much reason to not bully his way inside.
That momentarily changed in round four, when a left hand knocked Lebedev off balance. The momentum of the blow forced the local favorite to stumble backwards and eventually to the canvas.
(Writer's note: First viewing of the fight suggested Lebedev tripped over Kalenga's foot; video replay indicates that it was a clean knockdown, for which we regret the error - JD)
Lebedev rose to his feet, but seemed reluctant to engage in the middle rounds. Kalenga put in his best work of the night in round six, taking the lead on all three scorecards as the bout reached the halfway point.
The good fortunes didn’t last very long for the well-traveled Congolese boxer, who calls France home these days. Lebedev connected with a shot to the chin to drop Kalenga in round seven, reclaiming control of the fight and outboxing the challenger of over the course of the back six.
The surprisingly close scorecards suggested that Kalenga literally stood a fighting chance had he managed to turn the corner at any point in the second half of the contest. Instead, his five-fight win streak comes to a close as he falls to 21-2 (14KOs).
Meanwhile, Lebedev picks up his second straight win as he advances to 27-2 (20KOs). The Russian banger previously stopped Pawel Kolodziej in two rounds last September. There stands a good argument that he could be undefeated, as his two losses are both covered in taint.
Lebedev came up just short in a hotly-disputed split decision loss to Marco Huck in Dec. ’10. The bout was his first attempt at a title, with many believing he deserved the nod.
A far more definitive conclusion appeared to have come from his 11th round knockout loss to Guillermo Jones. Their May ’13 war was one for the ages, but smeared in controversy when Jones tested positive for a banned substance in the aftermath. A similar occurrence took place in their planned rematch, this time during pre-fight testing, leading to the cancellation of their scheduled sequel last May.
