By Alexey Sukachev
Khodynka Ice Palace, Moscow, Russia - Denis Lebedev (23-1, 17KOs) dominated former three division world champion James "Lights Out" Toney (73-7, 44KOs) over twelve rounds to capture the interim-WBA cruiserweight title. All three judges had it 120-108.
Toney, while appearing to be in his best physical shape since 2003, looked old, lacked the reflexes and took punishment. After this kind of performance, Toney's ability to land another big payday is going to be a big stretch. Lebedev was fresher, busier, punching harder, stunned Toney to the head and body in a few rounds, but couldn't finish off the iron-chinned veteran.
Lebedev was cautious in the first round, but he quickly realized that Toney's reflexes were very slow and the veteran was not putting together more than a single punch at a time. Lebedev would often catch Toney to the head and make him stumble back into the ropes. When the Russian boxer charged in to follow-up, Toney used his defensive skills to prevent a high ratio of damage from being sustained.
Lebedev started ripping Toney with shots to the body in the later rounds, hoping to bring his guard down. Toney offered very little in return and he always quickly moved away after being hurt to the midsection, as Lebedev would follow and stay on him with continued combinations. The referee was looking for a reason to stop the fight in the last two rounds, but Toney never found himself in enough trouble to force the referee's hand.
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WBC #3 super bantamweight Alexander Bakhtin (28-0, 11 KOs) was his usual light-hitting self in a methodical ten-round drubbing of little-interested Columbian Luiz Melendez (31-7-1, 22 KOs). Bakhtin, 30, was faster, tougher and more active. Melendez was down twice in the third after vicious body punches by Bakhtin. No scores were announced but BoxingScene had it 100-88 for the Russian, who has been ready for a title fight since 2007 at the very least.
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Ukrainian light heavyweight force Ismayl Sillakh (17-0, 14 KOs) continued his way up in ranks by easily dismantling Azerbaijani cruiserweight veteran Ali Ismailov (18-8-1, 13 KOs) in the fourth round of scheduled ten. WBC #3 and IBF #7 ranked 175lber was toying with his 37-year old opponent until dropping him down hard with a perfect right uppercut. Ismailov got up but refused to go on as referee Evgueny Gorstkov waved
the fight off at 1:06 of the fourth.
2008 Beijing Olympics super heavyweight bronze medalist Vyacheslav Glazkov took well-known Russian journeyman Daniel Peretyatko (17-30, 7 KOs) to school in a stay-busy fight before Peret's corner put a halt to the action after the fifth. The Ukrainian boxer looked superior to his opponent in every possible department, gradually beating Peretyatko to the punch with his jabs and powerful right hands. The Russian was also knocked down at the end of the first with a hard right counter. Glazkov is now 10-0, with 7 kayos.
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In the opener, Ukrainian light middleweight Igor Fanyan (11-3-2, 6 KOs) scored a non-violent six-round unanimous decision over fellow compatriot Denis Tupilenko (2-18).
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