By Ruslan Chikov and Alexander Pavlov

Vladimir Hryunov, the prominent Russian manager and promoter, recently discussed the possible fight opportunities for cruiserweight Denis Lebedev (23-1, 17KOs), who captured the WBA's interim title after beating veteran James Toney in November. Some of the options include IBO champion Antonio Tarver, full WBA champion Guillermo Jones or a possible fight for the vacant WBO crown, should Marco Huck get stripped, against Ola Afolabi.

"We have had contact with known manager Al Haymon, and while negotiations were presented with fairly respectable numbers for a possible fight with Antonio Tarver in the U.S., this fight could also take place in Russia. We have a plan and we know which way to go. We won't rule out a possible fight with WBA titleholder Guillermo Jones of Panama. We have already held preliminary negotiations with [Jones'] promoter Don King. He expressed a desire to come to us. There is another option: we notified the WBO that if they are going to vacate the title of Marco Huck for moving up to heavyweight, we will be ready to fight with Ola Afolabi," Hryunov said.

Alexander Pavlov covers boxing for sportbox.ru