Alexander Alekseev to defend EBU cruiserweight title against 41-year-old Firat Arslan on 5/11

By Boxing News - 03/19/2012 - Comments

Image: Alexander Alekseev to defend EBU cruiserweight title against 41-year-old Firat Arslan on 5/11By Allan Fox: European Boxing Union (EBU) cruiserweight champion Alexander Alekseev (23-2, 20 Ko’s) will be making his first defense of his title against 41-year-old former WBA World cruiserweight champion Firat Arslan (32-5-1, 21 KO’s) on May 11th in the EMS Arena in Goppingen, Germany.

It’s not too thrilling of a match-up, because Arslan has slipped a couple of notches from the fighter he once was and has lost two out of his last five fights. He has won his last three fights, though, albeit against 2nd tier level opposition. However, Arslan remains an attraction in Germany so it’s understandable why the 30-year-old Uzbekistan born Alexseev would be matched up against him rather than someone a decade younger with more talent.

Alexseev, a former 2004 Olympian for Russia, has won his last four fights after being blown out in two rounds by power puncher southpaw Denis Lebedev in July 2010. Alexseev does well against non-punchers due to his excellent boxing skills, but on the two occasions that Alexseev was put in with a fighter that had good power, he was stopped. Alexseev’s other loss on his resume came at the hands of the tough Argentinian Victor Ramirez in a 9th round stoppage in January 2009. Ramirez would later lose to Marco Huck in 2009 by a 12 round unanimous decision, losing his WBO cruiserweight title in the process. Oddly enough, Ramirez hasn’t fought since then.

Alexseev, #4 WBO, # 6 WBC, #12 WBA, should be able to beat the #11 WBO Arslan without too many problems. Arslan is slow and mostly loads up on his shots. He does have power and it’s possible he could find Alexseev’s chin to take him out. However, it’s unlikely unless Arslan can come on late when Alexseev typically tires badly and then hit him with something big to take him out. I would be surprised but not that surprised because Alexseev is terribly flawed in the chin and stamina department. He’s a great fighter with the exception of those two areas. In his last bout, Alexseev easily beat Enad Licina to capture the vacant EBU title last month.