By Dan Ambrose: Denis Lebedev (23-1, 17 KO’s) will get a nice break from all the 43-year-old fighters that he’s been facing lately when he takes on a relatively young in comparison 37-year-old Shawn Cox (16-1, 15 KO’s) this Wednesday in a fight for the interim World Boxing Association (WBA) cruiserweight title at the Crocus City Hall, in Myakinno, Russia.

Lebedev, 32, needs to win this fight in order to get a rematch against WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck in 2012. That’s the goal for Lebedev, who was beaten by Huck by a questionable 12 round split decision in December 2010 and it’s been really bugging Lebedev ever since. He wants to avenge that loss and prove that he’s the better fighter. It’s sort of sad that Lebedev even needs to waste time fighting Huck again because Lebedev clearly beat Huck in their fight but the judges seemed to be watching a completely different fight.

Cox may or may not be a threat to Lebedev. He’s one of those guys that has crushing power, at least with his left hand, but he’s not skilled at all and very vulnerable if Lebedev can land anything. Cox hasn’t fought much and is kind up there in age, but he’s just got a lot of raw power and an unorthodox fighting style. He’s very wild and looks like someone with naturally huge power that climbed into the ring for the first time. He has really bad mechanics but his wildness is what makes him harder to deal with because he’s difficult to gauge with his shots. Cox’s defense is really his offense.

He gets to you before you get to him. If Lebedev can survive long enough in the 1st round to land anything hard, he’ll likely win by a 1st round knockout. The same goes for the 2nd, 3rd and so on rounds. The fight will end a knockout but Cox has to KO Lebedev really early because if Lebedev lands anything it’s going to be over because Cox doesn’t look good at all when he’s taking shots.