Bottom line, boxing is entertainment. That is why fans in their droves pay big money: to be entertained. But yesterday in Moscow, Russia, cruiserweights Guillermo Jones and Denis Lebedev gave way, way, way too much in the name of entertainment; the beaten and savagely beaten up Lebedev in particular. Looking like the Elephant man or actor Eric Stoltz in the film ‘Mask’, Lebedev, the entire right side of his face swollen, his eye perhaps permanently damaged, should have been pulled out long before he was counted out in the 11th-round of an absolute slugfest.
Forget the fact that veteran Jones – who showed an amazing chin, taking flush bombs to the head again and again – regained the WBA 200-pound belt and became the first man to halt southpaw Lebedev, the talking point of this fight was and will continue to be the sickening eye injury Lebedev sustained.