Gassiev hurt him at the end there. It was fairly even otherwise, I give it to Gassiev. 5-3(-1) Lebedev. Needs to win out or score a KD on my card.

What an awesome round. Why is the crowd so silent? Lebedev fighting so bravely, I feel like he's just surviving in there though. Both of these guys are in top shape. 6-3 (-1).

That left from Lebedev early on was huge, clearly hurt Gassiev. He recovered well and dominated the last 2 minutes. I'll lean Lebedev but I can see it going the other way. 6-4 (-1)

When Gassiev gets frustrated and isn't throwing much, he seems to wind up and throw wildly instead of throwing shorter, straighter shots. Lebedev won that round by moving and landing more shots. 6-5 (-1)

I'd tell both fighters they need to win this one.

Lebedev closing strong. A lot of good shots there. Both fighters gassed but giving it their all, looks like they have weights on their arms in that round.

114-113 Gassiev on my card. You could find a few rounds to go either way, especially if you don't weight "that shot clearly hurt the opponent" (*cough Ward judges scorers*).

If Gassiev loses, he can look back to abandoning the body. His KD was a viscous left to the body and he had more success with it that round. But other than that, he threw very rarely to the body for most of the fight when it was right there for him. That and the lack of jabbing when his opponent is right in front of him.

Lebedev is a very tough, brave man. He took real punishment in a fight and at age 37 that could really set him back for good in future fights. It's hard to shake this type of damage in a fight at that age.

Scores seemed within range and tilted to the right guy.

That fight wasn't all that different from Ward-Kovalev, a clearly better fight though. More volume on both sides today, both fighters got tired, one guy clearly landed more effective shots. Probably 80% of scorers feel Gassiev (Kovalev) won.

the complete and utter lack of tv coverage of cruiserweights in the u.s.a is annoying as hell considering how deep the division is and the fact that all the fighters seem willing to actually fight each other

This Akavov seems far more live than Billy Joe's team were expecting. Billy joe is looking terrible so far as well.

Also huge 1st round upset in the Troyanovky vs Indongo fight.

this version of saunders wouldn't last more than a few rounds with GGG, Canelo, or Jacobs

not that anyone really thinks he would have much of a chance v the first two anyway

in before 9-3 saunders

i'm prob good on watching saunders for a while

lol at his manager trying to convince us he is about to fight GGG/canelo and BJS is just like "**** that i don't deserve to be in the ring with them anytime soon"

+1000.

And you know what else? Haymon and Arum really have nobody worthwhile at Cruiser. I don't think that's coincidence.

And the one somewhat relevant guy that is dodging mandatories and chasing silly money is Bellew, promoted by Hearn.

It's these damned promoters, they hold onto their fighters like fragile glass.

Thing is that there hasn't been a big American name in Cruiserweight since Evander Holyfield. Without a super-exciting fighter relatable to Americans, it's hard to market the division to a wide audience.

If you look at all the great cruiserweights now, they're from Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union and they aren't bustling with charisma and trash talk.

Yeah I'm sure that's the main reason . Shobox had a night a couple months ago with four undefeated American cruiser weights I think and they were all awful

Put the CWs on the undercard of PBC bouts & people will watch & get invested in them. Get Sanchez & GGG to run promos for Gassiev & Roach to run promos for Lebedev. Gassiev's last 5 fights were in America & he speaks a little English (this is at the beginning of the 5 fight run so I presume he's better now)



Cruisers fighting in Europe is natural but with good promotion they can be a big enough draw to appear on one of PBC's Saturday afternoon cards + there may be a big American fighter at CW in 18 months (some prospect or Andre Ward goes to CW).

joshua-klitschko set for april in manchester

Nice straight right

Set in what .... jelly ?

That fight is far from a done deal imo, just a lot of smoke being blown up peoples ar$es because Joshua is fighting Molina.

Aussie really rocked that head back.

Sent me down a kangaroo boxing wormhole. Some pretty funny stuff out there:

not some british lol tabloid reporting it, it is espn.com

I hope it happens ... i really do.

Just feel " something " will turn up and throw a spanner in the works.

I also dont feel Joshua is quite ready for Klitschko just yet and Hearn probably thinks the same.

if it does happen i think it is a fantastic fight and truly don't really know what to expect

easy to see klitschko winning a decision but also easy to see him looking old and washed and he has never had a good chin. that fight with fury was so bad

Joshua gonna knock him out.

Klitschko is done.

April 29th at Wembley according to Hearn, not finalised though.

All being well with Molina, I think the fight happens. Wlad is part of the Sky team for Dec 10th so they're obviously trying to build it up now.