By Allan Fox: Former two division world champion Beibut Shumenov (18-2, 12 KOs) defeated #3 WBA Hizni Altunkaya (30-2, 17 KOs) by a 9th round knockout on Saturday night to capture the vacant World Boxing Association cruiserweight title at the Barys Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan. The 34-year-old Shumenov, who was returning from a two-year layoff, knocked the 30-year-old German Altunkaya down twice in the fight in the 1st and 9th rounds.
LAS VEGAS (July 22, 2016) – It has been more than a month since World Boxing Association (WBA) world cruiserweight champion Beibut Shumenov (16-2, 10 KOs), based on the much publicized WBA Cruiserweight Tournament rules and regulations, petitioned the WBA to either declare a purse bid for a title fight between WBA Super cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev, or strip Lebedev of his title belt for being non-compliant.
Last July, Shumenov defeated B.J. Flores by way of a 12-round unanimous decision to become the WBA mandatory challenger for Lebedev, who hasn’t fought a mandatory defense since April 10, 2015.
World Boxing Association (WBA) “regular” cruiserweight world champion Beibut Shumenov (17-2, 10 KOs) stopped No. 11-rated Junior “Hurricane” Wright (15-2-1, 12 KOs) in the 10th round tonight at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
By Jim Dower: WBA World cruiserweight champion Beibut Shumenov (17-2, 11 KOs) had to get up off the deck to come back and defeat #11 WBA challenger Junior Wright (15-2-1, 12 KOs) by a 10th round knockout on Saturday night in Shumenov’s first defense of his title at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Nevada.
(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp / Mayweather Promotions) By Jim Dower: Interim WBA cruiserweight champion Beibut Shumenov (16-2, 10 KO’s) successfully weighed in on Friday at 199lbs for his fight against #11 WBA Junior Wright (15-1-1, 12 KOs) in their fight for the WBA World cruiserweight title on Saturday night on Showtime Championship Boxing at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Wright, 29, weighed in at 199.5lbs. Former WBA World cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev is now the WBA Super World cruiserweight champion. The WBA has two champions in the cruiserweight division for some reason.
By Dan Ambrose: Last Saturday’s fight between IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs) and Nadjib Mohammedi (37-4, 23 KOs) brought in an average of 1.014 million viewers with a peak of 1.028 million viewers on HBO Championship Boxing from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In contrast, the fight between former WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov and BJ Flores brought in an average of 241,000 viewers with a peak of 422,000 viewers on NBCSN, according to Dan Rafael. The co-feature bout between Jean Pascal and Yunieski Gonzalez on the Kovalev-Mohammedi card outperformed the Shumenov vs. Flores fight as well in averaging 883,000 viewers with a peak of 1.028 million viewers on HBO.
(Photo credit: Suzanne Teresa/Premier Boxing Champions) By Dan Ambrose: Beibut Shumenov (16-1, 10 KOs) schooled longtime veteran BJ Flores (30-2-1, 20 KOs) in defeating him by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night to win the vacant WBA interim cruiserweight title on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC from the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The final judges’ were 116-112, 116-112 and 116-112. Flores fought well in the middle rounds in putting pressure on Shumenov, who wasn’t throwing enough punches. However, Shumenov took control of the fight from 8th round, and cruised for the last four rounds in outworking Flores and making him look bad with his movement.
By Dan Ambrose: 36-year-old BJ Flores (31-1-1, 20 KOs) came in over the cruiserweight limit at 200.8lbs during today’s weigh-in for his fight on Saturday night against former WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov (15-2, 10 KOs) at the Palms Casino and Resort, Pearl Theater, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Shumenov vs. Flores fight will be televised on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC Sports.
