By Jason Kim: World Boxing Association light heavyweight champion Gabriel Campillo (18-2, 6 KOs) will be fighting undefeated contender Beibut Shumenov (8-0, 6 KOs) on August 15th at a still to be determined location in Kazakhstan. Shumenov, 25, fought for Kazakhstan in the 2004 Olympics, and has quickly risen up in the rankings since turning pro in 2007. Campillo, 30, recently defeated WBA light heavyweight champion Hugo Hernan Garay by a 12 round majority decision last month in June to capture the title.

A volume puncher that likes to throw a lot of punches, Campillo doesn’t have much power but instead likes to wear his opponents down by sheer volume punching. Before pulling the upset over Garay last month, Campillo had mostly came up empty when facing top talent, losing to Vyacheslav Uzelkov and Karo Murat in 2007 and 2008. However, Garay was the perfect opponent, because he had to take off a lot of weight to make weight for their June 20th bout.

Shumenov has taken the fast route to getting ranked quickly since turning pro, beating Donnell Wiggins, Montell Griffin, Epifanio Mendoza and Byron Mitchell. Shumenov uses a lot of movement and an in and out fighting style to get the better of his opponents. His style is like a slow motion version of Roy Jones Jr. without his blazing hand speed and once good power.

In his most recent win, a 4th round stoppage victory over Byron Mitchell, Shumenov hurt Mitchell in the 4th with a series of power shots stopping him with a flurry of shots. Shumenov looks good, but doesn’t have the kind of hand speed or stamina that will keep him on top for long. In fights against Griffin and Mendoza, Shumenov faded in the later part of the fights and looked really tired in grinding out the victories. However, with his tendency to fight mostly on the outside, he’s hard to get a hold of and beat in a normal manner.

Campillo likely will have his hands full against Shumenov. Campillo does well against fighters that are more stationary and right in front of him for him to get the better of with his volume punching. Shumenov won’t let him fight like that against him, because he’ll be on the move far too much for Campillo to get his offense in gear. Look for Shumenov to hurt Campillo with a big hook and then bury him with a flurry of punches by the 8th round.

Campillo is really out of his league against a quality fighter like Shumenov and will have problems.
At least for awhile, Shumenov may be able to dominate the WBA for some time to come. His only competition is Glen Johnson, Jurgen Brahmer, Yusaf Mack, and Vyacheslav Uzelkov.

Right now, Shumenov appears to be better than all of those guys. Johnson would be a problem if Shumenov was the type that stood and traded, but he doesn’t fight that way and will likely give Johnson a lot of difficulties when and if they ever meet up in the ring.