Shumenov vs. Berrio On May 9th – Boxing News

By Boxing News - 04/02/2009 - Comments

shumenov452By Dave Lahr: Undefeated light heavyweight prospect Beibut Shumenov (7-0, 5 KOs) takes a big step up in competition on May 9th against former International Boxing Federation (IBF) super middleweight champion Colombian Alejandro Berrio (28-5, 27 KOs) in a 12-round bout for the vacant International Boxing Association light heavyweight title at the Stadium Khadjimukan, in Chimkent, Kazakhstan.

Shumenov, 25, a former 2004 Olympian from Kazakhstan, doesn’t believe in taking things slow with his pro career. Shumenov has already faced and beaten former World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight champion Montell Griffin and knockout artist Epifanio Mendoza in his last two fights.

Shumenov holds the little known WBO Asia Pacific and WBC Asian Boxing Council light heavyweight titles, and wants to fight only the best fighters in the division. However, he’s already reportedly been turned away by Roy Jones Jr., Glen Johnson and Clinton Woods for a fight. It’s not surprising, though, because Shumenov has a fighting style that’s very hard to deal with.

Shumenov fights using an in and out style and uses a lot of different angles on offense. Shumenov also has excellent hand speed and is hard to hit cleanly. He likes to dive in with his shots often, though like a lot of fighters from the former Soviet Union, he’s good at landing short punches thrown with a lot of power.

In rating his ability from the several fights I’ve seen of him, Shumenov already looks better than any other light heavyweight in the division except for Chad Dawson and Bernard Hopkins. I would give Shumenov an excellent chance at beating Hopkins due to Shumenov’s much better hand speed and foot movement than Hopkins.

Shumenov doesn’t hit as hard as Hopkins, at least not yet, but that may change in time as Shumenov gets older and stronger. Dawson is probably too fast and powerful for Shumenov at this point, but it’s a fight that would be a really tough one for Dawson and easily his toughest bout yet.

Berrio, 32, has done little since losing his IBF super middleweight title in a 11th round TKO loss to Romanian Lucian Bute in October 2007. Berrio, ranked number #11 in the WBC, has fought only twice, beating two level fighters Fidel Sarmiento and Elias Ruiz in Colombia.

Still one of the hardest punchers in the super middleweight division, Berrio needs a win over Shumenov to stay relevant in the super middleweight division. A loss to Shumenov would almost certainly drop Berrio from the top tier.

It goes to show you how quickly the super middleweight division has changed in the past two year’s time. Back in 2007, Berrio was one of the top fighters in the division, but now there’s newer fighters with more rounded boxing skills and almost equal power like Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell, both almost certainly to be future champions in the division.

If Berrio has any chance of winning against Shumenov, Berrio is going to have to let his hands go early and often, and try to connect with something big before Shumenov starts picking up momentum in the fight. It won’t be easy to do for Berrio, because Shumenov will be fighting in front of his home crowd in Kazakhstan and will be fighting with his usual confidence.