Former cruiserweight titlist Denis Lebedev returns to the ring after a brief retirement, facing veteran contender Thabiso Mchunu. Their scheduled 12-round World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver cruiserweight title fight takes place Saturday evening at Ivan Yarygin Sports Palace in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
Lebedev (32-2, 23KOs) has not fought since a 10-round decision win versus Mike Wilson last November in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The 40-year old Moscow native saw fights fall through versus Oleksandr Usyk—still the World cruiserweight champion at the time—and Arsen Goulamirian at separate points in 2019, the latter fallout accompanied with a retirement announcement in July.
Five months later returns the multi-term cruiserweight tiltist to face South Africa's Mchunu (21-5, 13KO), who has won two in a row. The brief run includes a landslide points win over countryman Thomas Oosthuizen in there rematch last December, avenging a disputed defeat from three months prior.
UNDERCARD
Flamboyant Russian Sergey Vorobyev (9-0, 6 KOs), national light middleweight champion, came back to the 147lb division and showed solid skills and mastery against dangerous Vazir Tamoyan (12-3-1, 3 KOs), dominating him over eight rounds of a non-title special attraction.
Vorobyev dropped Tamoyan with a cracking right hand in the third round but was deducted a point for low blows in the fifth. Other than that, flashy Vorobyev had little problems with his opponent winning a wide unanimous decision.
Vorobyev is best known for his win over then 34-0 Konstantin Ponomarev in the undercard of Usyk vs. Gassiev.
Kazakhstani slugger Aidos Yerbossynuly (13-0, 9 KOs) capped off another solid year in the pros with his third victory, dominating brave yet limited Omar Garcia to the eighth-round stoppage.
Well-travelled Yerbossynuly was rated #2 by the WBA and #8 by the WBO in the super middleweight division. Meanwhile, the equally well travelled Garcia was fighting for the fifth (and for the fourth consecutive) time in Russia.
Yerbossynuly, 28, was just tighter and more refined than Garcia, one year his senior. The latter was brave and didn’t hesitate to exchange leather with the Kazakh - mostly with the negative outcome. There were no knockdowns but Aidos’ dominance increased with each fought minute.
In round eight, Yerbossynuly connected with a serious combination, wobbling Garcia. The Venezuelan leaned forward, and was tackled down. It wasn’t ruled a knockdown but he was still wobbling after getting up forcing a stoppage from referee Leszek Jankowiak.
Yerbossynuly retained a handful of titles, including WBO Global, WBA Continental and WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental super middleweight titles. Garcia drops down to 15-3, 12 KOs.
Rising Spanish prospect Samuel Carmona (3-0, 2 KOs) passed his toughest career test by outpointing Filipino Enrique Magsalin (7-3-2, 1 KO) over eight rounds.
The 23-year old Spaniard, who is signed by the Patriot Russian promotional outfit, was flashy and delivered with vengeance against durable, well-taught but way too basic opponent. Magsalin showed some solid skills but lacked some subtle finesse, possessed by 2016 Rio quarterfinalist and 2017 WC bronze medalist.
The decision was unanimous for Carmona but no scores were announced. BoxingScene saw it 78-74 in his favor.
Russian fight veteran Konstantin Piternov (21-24, 10 KOs) was dealt his eleventh straight loss, after suffering a debilitating right shoulder injury in the third round of his bout versus experienced former amateur standout Rustam Tulaganov (2-0, 1 KOs). Piternov somehow lasted till 1:45 of the fourth before succumbing to the pain.
Tulaganov, 28, is a former Uzbek Olympian, who competed in 2016 Rio Olympics and lost to eventual gold medalist Evgueny Tischenko. He previously fought as a pro two years ago.
WBA #4 middleweight Magomed Madiev (14-0-1, 4 KOs) stayed busy with an eight-round unanimous decision over durable Ukrainian Dmitriy Bogdanov (4-2, 3 KOs).
It looked like it would be a short night for Madiev early on, as he dropped the Ukrainian twice with hard body shots in the opener. Bogdanov somehow survived and became increasingly defensive after the first. Madiev tried to trick Bogdanov inside for a hard counter but he doesn’t pack a punch, and Bogdanov was understandably cautious. Madiev did land some stinging shots and even hurt Bogdanov several times but failed to stop him. Bogdanov survived but hardly won any rounds.
Russian light middleweight Stephan Diyun (1-0-1, 1 KO) used his huge size advantage to stop Thai veteran Aekkawee Kaewmanee (also known as Pathomsith Pathompothong) in two one-sided rounds. Diyun dropped the Thai with three consecutive punches early into the second, then trapped him at the ropes and broke him down with three consecutive body shots at 1:17. Kaewmanee is now 21-13, 10 KOs.
Uzbek middleweight Odiljon Aslonov kept it real and painful for journeyman Varazdat Chernikov (11-15, 5 KOs) dropping him four times with body shots en route to the second-round TKO. It was Aslonov’s pro debut and Chernikov’s eleventh consecutive loss.