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Former heavyweight world champions Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko are both now retired. The two boxers fought just once during their careers, way back on June 21, 2003. They weren’t even originally scheduled to face each other on that fateful day. Originally Klitschko was slated to face Cedric Boswell on the undercard of a showcase event featuring world champion Lennox Lewis, who was supposed to go up against challenger Kirk Johnson.
Fight fans who tuned in saw a great card in Moscow this past Saturday, and it was a card that was predominantly highlighted by cruiserweights. We saw hard-hitting Murat Gassiev decision the unimaginably tough Denis Lebedev in a great fight, and we saw the lethal banger that is Dmitriy Kudryashov – arguably the single hardest one-punch terminator in the sport today – ice Santander Silgado in typically chilling fashion.
Tonight at The Ice Palace in Moscow, unbeaten challenger Murat Gassiev scored a 12-round split decision victory over defending IBF cruiserweight champ Denis Lebedev. The new champion, now 24-0(17) prevailed via scores of 116-112 and 116-111, the third judge had it 114-113 for Lebedev, who is now 29-3(22).
A very tough, hard-fought battle, tonight’s main event saw both men take plenty of punches. Lebedev, the older man by a substantial 14 years at age 37, used his underrated boxing skills when he could, using plenty of movement and pumping out his sharp southpaw jab. Gassiev, so dangerous a puncher, stalked his man and though he was guilty of being one-paced at times, the challenger was both catching Lebedev with shots and making the older man work.
Tonight at The Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia brutal puncher Dmitriy Kudryashov scored yet another highlight reel KO as he iced Colombia’s Santander Silgado in the very first round. The stern-faced, bearded Kudryashov came out stalking right away, backing the 31 year old up from the get-go.
A hard left hand put Silgado down as he was along the ropes and he went down heavily. Bravely beating the count, Silgado was soon laid flat out by another left to the chin. As soon as the punch landed, Silgado was out, landing on his back, his arms outstretched. It was yet another chilling display of one-punch power from Kudryashov, who is now 20-1(20). Silgado, who has now been stopped on three occasions, falls to 27-4(21).
The action in the chief supporting bout to the Denis Lebedev-Murat Gassiev fight in Moscow, Russia delivered as advertised, as cruiserweights Maksim Vlasov halted Rakhim Chahkiev in a thriller of a slugfest. The two punchers went at it and exchanged knockdowns before Vlasov finally got the KO win early on in the 7th-round.
Now 37-2(19) and never having been stopped, 30 year old Vlasov has won his last seven fights, all at cruiserweight with him having moved up from 168 almost two years ago. 33 year old Chakhkiev, who falls to 26-3(19) has now lost two of his last four and the southpaw may struggle to get back into title contention.
Seemingly genuinely bitter rivals David Haye and Tony Bellew came face to face (literally) in London today, at the O2 presser to further promote/hype their upcoming March 4 clash. The two exchanged words on the top table, before the inevitable (now tiresome) face-to-face “photo opportunity.”
The 28th of November, 2015. Just another date in history to most but for boxing fans it marked a “changing of the guard” or at least that’s what they hoped.
When Tyson Fury met Wladimir Klitschko, the dominant force of Heavyweight boxing for a decade, at the Esprit Arena, Dusseldorf for the WBA (Super), WBO, IBF, IBO & Ring Magazine Championships it was seen as yet another routine defence for Klitschko. What followed was one of the most unexpected and shocking turn of events in the blue ribbon division for some time. By the end of twelve rounds there was nobody in any doubt that Fury had done the unthinkable, he had made believers out of the doubters and, like it or not, cemented his name in the annals of time. He ended the seemingly unstoppable reign of Wlad with a comfortable twelve round unanimous decision and left fans and experts alike wondering what was next for a division that had laid stagnant and dormant for far too long.
Vasyl Lomachenko (7-1, 5 KOs) successfully defended his WBO junior lightweight championship belt when he dominated Nicholas Walters (26-1-1, 21 KOs) en route to a 7th round stoppage victory. Many boxing observers expected this to be a competitive contest between two elite boxers from this weight range. What transpired, however, was something completely different. Lomachenko made things look easy in there. Between the 7th and 8th rounds, Walters had informed referee Tony Weeks that he did not wish to continue. This ending left many fans disappointed, but the end result is that Lomachenko dominated and he looked sensational doing so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7dhTvlFc1A
As fight fans may have read by now, David Haye and Tony Bellew will meet on March 4 at The O2 in London. A grudge-match between two vocal and exciting fighters who have a history (they sparred, many years ago, with differing versions from both on what transpired), Haye Vs. Bellew is a fight that is all but guaranteed to end by KO, one way or the other.
David Haye and Tony Bellew will clash in a Heavyweight blockbuster at The O2 in London on March 4, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
The big-hitting pair will finally settle their differences in the ring having clashed explosively on Sky Sports in Liverpool in October when Bellew defended his WBC World Cruiserweight title against BJ Flores, with the Liverpool star calling Haye out after knocking Flores out. Haye and Bellew exchanged angry words and had to be separated by security – but on March 4 there will be no parting them.