By Ruslan Chikov
Hall of Fame ex-champion Kostya Tszyu will remain as the head trainer of former cruiserweight champ Denis Lebedev (25-2, 19KOs), according to the coach himself. Lebdev plans to make some changes with his team in the wake of the eleventh round knockout loss to Guillermo Jones on May 17th.
The right side of Lebedev's face was horrific. The right eye was badly swollen shut. And there were cuts around both of his eyes.
There were critics, including Jones, who were shocked that Lebedev's corner did not stop the fight in the earlier rounds - when considering the facet that Lebdev was fighting with one eye.
"I thought a lot about [stopping the fight]. If you remember, in the tenth round Jones fell to the mat and he barely got up. It's like running a ten-cross race over 500 meters and before the finish line you fall and then try to get up - it is a huge burden. At that moment, it nearly became a turning point. In boxing, every second something can change, but it turned out that in the eleventh round a knockout happened, although it could have been the opposite," Tszyu said.
Tszyu admits that Lebdev was overtrained for the fight.
"I think [his stamina isssues] were due to the roughness in our physical fitness. Lebedev did not have the stamina to win," Tszyu said.
Lebdev wants to return on the Wladimir Klitschko-Alexander Povetkin undercard on October 6th in Moscow, Russia.
