by Cliff Rold

Denis Lebedev is a lot of things. He’s a skilled professional. He’s as tough as they come. Still fighting at a high level as he nears forty years old, his professionalism is evident in abundance.

One thing no one can ever call Denis Lebedev is lucky. He’s lost three times in his career. The most brutal of those defeats, a stoppage at the hands of Guillermo Jones, came against a man who turned up dirty in the post-fight drug test. A split decision loss to Marco Huck could easily have gone the other way and came on Huck’s fistic home turf in Germany.

Saturday’s loss may cut the deepest. Lebedev did almost everything one would have said he had to for a win. He got off to a good start, kept his hands moving, and made it off the floor after taking a whale of a body shot in round five.

It wasn’t enough and now undefeated Murat Gassiev can call himself a champion.

Was it the right call?

Let’s go the report card.

Grades

Pre-Fight: Speed – Lebedev B-; Gassiev B/Post: B; B

Pre-Fight: Power – Lebedev B+; Gassiev A/Post: B; A

Pre-Fight: Defense – Lebedev B-; Gassiev B-/Post: B-; C+

Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Lebedev A; Gassiev B/Post: A; B

From the singular perspective of the author, Lebedev should have had his hand raised on Saturday despite the knockdown suffered. The score tallied was eight rounds to Lebedev, three to Gassiev, and one even. That’s a tally of 116-112.

That scoring gap doesn’t reflect dominance. There were a lot of head scratching rounds where ideas like ring generalship were taken into account.

It doesn’t mean one can’t see where scores came out in favor of Gassiev in this split decision. When Gassiev landed, he landed hard. His punches have that special booming effect that let’s serious punchers stand out from the average heavy handed pro. Lebedev is heavy handed; he’s scored more than his share of stoppages.

Gassiev has the sort of power that keeps one on the edge of their seats. It kept Lebedev boxing for most of the night. What do you like? Gassiev clearly landed the hardest shots of the fight.

Did he land enough of them consistently?

That’s a real debate. Gassiev, who rarely saw a punch he didn’t mind getting hit with in the fight, spent long stretches of the fight stalking, working his offense in spots. When he was doing that, Lebedev was landing more consistently, working for more of the three minutes of more rounds.

At least it felt that way watching the fight. Review of the CompuBox numbers tells a different story with the men landing and throwing on virtually even terms for the night. It seemed on live viewing like the jab and footwork was causing Gassiev more trouble than the statistics lend strength to.

There is certainly something to be said for Lebedev seeming to be under more duress. A lot of what he was throwing was reactive, an effort to slow a downhill monster who threatened to stop him if he didn’t stay active.

But he did stay active and he didn’t rely solely on the jab.

In the end it was a competitive fight that will have its sides entrenched and so be it. Cruiserweight delivered again and that should be no shock. It’s a division that delivers far more often than it gets credit for, at least in the US. The rest of the world has embraced the division and their reward is big men landing big man bombs.

Lebedev isn’t done yet and Gassiev will continue to improve. This was a sizable jump in class for him and his power is going to make him a threat to anyone. Right now, fellow young titlist Oleksandr Usyk might be a sizable favorite but with a little more seasoning Gassiev might just be the big test Usyk needs before he makes the decision about whether he will rule 200 lbs. or chase the glory and dollars at heavyweight.

That’s a great place for any division to be.   

Report Card and Staff Picks 2016: 40-13

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com