Equal battle, victory in doubt
In the first of two main fights of boxing evening in the Krasnoyarsk Sports Palace named after Ivan Yarygin, boxers of the first heavy weight (up to 90.7 kg) Dmitry Kudryashov and Vaclav Peysar entered the ring. Once a Russian had a series of 18 early victories and great prospects. However, now his career has declined. Kudryashov was defeated three times by technical knockout, and each fight turned out to be serious health problems for him. In June of this year, a domestic athlete missed dangerous shots from the Congolese Ilunga Makabu and even knocked down. One of the attacks of the opponent led to a fracture of the nose of Kudryashov. As a result, he underwent surgery and for several months lost the opportunity to exercise normally.
After an unsuccessful battle, the Russian was pondering the transition to mixed martial arts. However, things have not gone further than talking. In order to "close" an unpleasant defeat from Makaba, Kudryashov was invited to meet with Peysar. The option seemed a win-win. Cech took a place at the end of the seventh dozen ratings of this weight division according to the version of the statistical portal Boxrec. His performance was not impressive: 14 victories and eight defeats.
And yet in the ring, Peysar managed to create great difficulties for Kudryashov. The Russian did not move well. In one of the episodes, he managed to knock the enemy down, but besides this, he practically did not remember the attack, and he also missed a lot of punches. Kudryashov ended the ten-round battle with serious damage to his face.
Despite his more modest status, Peysar looked more convincing. Nevertheless, the judges gave the victory to the owner of the ring by a separate decision. The final score on the referee cards was 97:92, 92:97, 95:94 in favor of Kudryashov. The judicial decision caused many bewilderment, and on the Internet the verdict was severely criticized.
“After the knockdown, I was charged, I wanted to hit, but the quick punches ceased a bit. I needed such a fight. He gives me invaluable experience. This is the first fight that I spent until the end. It's good that I did not finish it ahead of schedule. It’s very cool to return, ”Kudryashov summed up after the final gong.
Lebedev suffered a third loss in his career
Denis Lebedev did not box for 13 months. In November 2018, he did not convincingly beat the points of a little-known American Mike Wilson, and then after several months of silence announced the end of his career. Rumor had it that he really wanted to fight with Alexander Usik. However, the Ukrainian prefers to avoid meeting with Russians because of the political situation between the countries. Lebedev himself explained his retirement from sports by the lack of financially beneficial offers. In the interview, the athlete confessed his desire to switch to the administrative work. Apparently, in this area, Lebedev was not yet able to interest in attractive conditions, since he decided to return.
Initially, they tried to reduce Lebedev to Makaba. They wanted to promote such a fight as revenge of the Russian boxer for their friends Kudryashov and Alexei Papin, but the negotiations were unsuccessful. As a substitute found Tabiso Mchunu from South Africa. This fighter lost by knockout in the later rounds to Makabu and Usik. But he also had significant victories. For example, over the ex-contender for the heavyweight champion Eddie Chambers from the USA.
Before the fight, Lebedev described Mchuna as a “strong, sharp and dignified” opponent. A great motivation for the Russian was the opportunity to win the WBC Silver belt. According to a long tradition, he appeared in the hall under the composition “The Blue Spilled”, on Lebedev there were a paratrooper costume and a blue beret. In the corner of the ring, he was second to Filipino Marvin Samodio, one of the assistants to the legendary Freddy Roach.
40-year-old Denis looked more massive than in the best years of his career. The age difference and Lebedev’s long idle time should have played into the hands of Mchun, who had previously boxed just two months ago.
The first two rounds were held in mutual intelligence. The pace of the fight in this segment was low. Lebedev tried to occupy the center of the ring, but could not accurately determine his distance. It was felt that he was not in perfect tone. But the fans in the Sports Palace named after Yarygin were rooting for their favorite very actively. This made the Russian boxer go forward.
In the third round, the referee took a point from Lebedev. Perhaps the cause was the bleeding that opened in Mchunu. The audience was waiting for an increase in pace by the middle of the fight, but expectations were not met. Opponents continued to act in a cautious manner, conducting very few strikes. The Russian missed some very heavy lunges, but stayed on his feet.
Closer to the ending, Lebedev began to get tired. The South African moved better in the ring and deftly escaped from the shelling. In the tenth round, the boxers did not hesitate to clinch, there were almost no multi-way combinations. At best, Lebedev and Mchunu exchanged single shots. In the 11th round, the attempt of the Russian to go to the exchange was stopped by the arms of a South African. The same thing happened in the final three minutes. Lebedev tried to aggravate the situation, but Mchun masterfully avoided any risk.
There were no surprises when the verdict was announced: the victory with a score of 120: 107, 119: 108, 115: 112 was awarded to Mchun.
"Thanks friends. Sorry to let you down. Thank you all so much. Only the sediment remained, ”Lebedev admitted in a blitz interview.
After the gong, Lebedev seemed very disappointed, but found the strength to admit defeat and congratulate the new WBC Silver champion. And then he made a confession: this battle nevertheless became the last for him.
“I see no more reason to pursue a career. Make people laugh? Or conduct fights like Emelianenko and Koklyaev? I don’t see myself in this. I have another job. We need to give her full attention, ”said the boxer.