Lebedev-Kolodziej & Wlodarczyk-Drozd this Saturday in Moscow, Russia

By Boxing News - 09/22/2014 - Comments

lebedev3423By Dan Ambrose:
WBA cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev (25-2, 19 KOs) will be defending his WBA title this Saturday night against , #4 WBA, #13 WBO contender Pawel Kolodziej (33-0, 18 KOs) in a scheduled 12 round bout at the Dynamo Palace of Sports in Krylatskoye, Moscow, Russia.

Also on the card is WBC cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (49-2-1, 35 KOs) defending his title against #4 WBC Grigory Drozd (38-1, 27 KOs).

Lebedev hasn’t fought since he took a horrendous beat down in his 11th round knockout loss to Guillermo Jones last year in May. Lebedev ended up with a badly swollen right cheek. The right side of Lebedev’s face was so badly swollen that it was surprising that his trainer, the ringside doctor or the referee didn’t stop the fight because there was a risk that Lebedev could have been seriously hurt in that fight.

Jones looked considerably bigger than Lebedev in their fight last year. He looked like a heavyweight fighting a cruiserweight. The size difference between the two of them was that pronounced. As big as Jones is it’s hard to believe he doesn’t fight in the heavyweight division because he looks more like a heavyweight than a cruiserweight at 6’4”.

Lebedev attempted to fight Jones earlier this year in April, but the fight failed to take place due to Jones testing positive for a banned substance.

There’s a lot of unanswered questions about Lebedev’s 33-year-old opponent Kolodziej, because he’s not been facing any real dangerous opposition since he turned pro in 2004. The best opponents Kolodziej has been in with thus far is Felix Cora Jr, Jozsef Nagy, and Rob Calloway. Those are guys that he should have faced years ago instead of still fighting them many years into his career.

A prime Lebedev would likely KO Kolodziej without any problems, but it’s unclear how much Lebedev has left after the punishment he took against the much bigger Guillermo Jones last year.

In the co-feature bout, Krzysztof will be defending his title against 35-year-old Grigory Drozd. This is another case of a fighter with an inflated record against largely weak opposition.

Drozd stepped up 7 years ago and was beaten by Firat Arslan by a 5th round knockout in 2006. Since then, Drozd has taken it easy in winning his last 13 fights against weak opposition. Krzysztof should be able to take care of Drozd without any problems because he’s pretty much the same fighter that Arslan easily beat years ago. The only things that’s changed is he’s gotten older. Unless Drozd can show something that I haven’t seen from him, I see him getting knocked out.



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