Ola Afolabi vs. Valery Brudov for interim WBO cruiserweight title on Klitschko-Mormeck undercard on Saturday

By Boxing News - 02/29/2012 - Comments

Image: Ola Afolabi vs. Valery Brudov for interim WBO cruiserweight title on Klitschko-Mormeck undercard on SaturdayBy Jim Dower: Ola Afolabi (18-2-3, 8 KO’s) will be fighting 35-year-old Russian Valery Brudov (39-3, 28 KO’s) in a scheduled 12 round bout for the interim World Boxing Organization cruiserweight title on Saturday night on the undercard of Wladimir Klitschko vs. Jean Marc Mormeck at the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The winner of the Afolabi-Brudov fight will either fight the current WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck within 120 days or if Huck decides to stay at heavyweight, where he recently fought for the title against WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin, then the winner of the Afolabi vs. Brudov fight will the the new WBO cruiserweight champ.

It looks good for the 31-year-old Afolabi, #1 WBO, #4 WBA, #7 IBF, #7 WBC, to come out on top on Saturday against Brudov. Afolabi is the bigger puncher by far and is fighting on a much higher level. Brudov, #8 WBO, #14 WBA, hasn’t fought since last June when he defeated journeyman Jim Franklin by a 2nd round TKO. Before that, Brudov lost to WBA World cruiserweight champion Guillermo Jones by an 11th round TKO in October 2010. Brudov only fought once last year and once in 2010 and 2009. As you can see, he hasn’t exactly been one of the most busiest of fighters for some reason.

Brudov has only fought three quality fighters – Firat Arlan, Virgil Hill and Guillermo Jones – during his 13-year pro career and he lost to all three of them. That kind of gives you an idea of who’s going to come out on top on Saturday.

Afolabi lost a questionable 12 round decision to Marco Huck in December 2009. Since then, Afolabi has won four consecutive fights and looked good in each of them. In his last bout last September, Afolabi defeated journeyman Lukasz Rusiewicz by an eight round unanimous decision. In his fight before that, Afolabi stopped Terry Dunstan in the 1st round last July.



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