By Alexey Sukachev

As previously reported by BoxingScene.com, on May 17 reigning WBA cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev (25-1, 19 KOs) of Russia collides with the Panamanian WBA “Champion in Recess” Guillermo Jones (38-3-2, 30 KOs) in a long-anticipated unification of the World Boxing Association’s 200lb crown. The bout will crown a strong card at Crocus City Hall in Myakinino, Moscow, Russia.

The purse bid, which had been previously won by Don King with a bid of $712 000, was turned over by the Russian businessman Andrey Ryabinskiy, who has bought the rights to arrange the fight from the occasional winner. The show will be promoted by Vladimir Hryunov, the most renowned Russian boxing tycoon.

“My goal was to bring the world-class prizefighting and huge, internationally important boxing affairs back to Russia”, said Ryabinskiy. “That’s a sign of a new life of Russian boxing, and it will be a huge event both domestically and worldwide”.

“Negotiations were pretty tense and difficult, but finally we have reached the deal and resolved all the nuances”, commented Hryunov. “The most important thing is that we have finally settled all the differences down. Negotiations are over, and tickets have already been released for sale. We are eagerly awaiting Don King’s arrival in Russia. The legendary promoter will fly over to our land for the first time in history on April 9-10 to announce the fight within a short press tour”.

Guillermo Jones, who acquired his portion of the cruiserweight title in September 2008 with the 10th round TKO over Firat Arslan, fought just twice after that to stop Russian Valery Brudov (October 2010) and American Michael Marrone (November 2011) in a sample of ultimate inactivity, which cost him the full title.