IBF cruiserweight eliminator, in Warsaw on Friday, live on PolSat. Kashinsky is ranked IBF #4 (behind only Samoan-Aussie prospect Jai Opetaia, the #1 and #2 slots are currently vacant and to be determined in part by this eliminator), and Cieślak is #11. Aside from being tall, fit, big-punching CW's, both men are known internationally primarily for a defeat: in the case of Kashinsky, an ugly affar dropping a UD to countryman Ruslan Fayfer in late 2019; in Cieślak's a very controversial decision to Ilunga Makabu in hostile territory in Kinshasa. Aside from size, the Russian might have a slight edge in power but the Pole is far more well-schooled.
Nikodem Piotr Jeżewski is on the undercard (taking on thrice-beaten Czech thirty-something Vladimir Řezníček) - which ordinarily would indicate that where there was smoke there was fire with last year's rumors of a rematch ...but logically, if Cieślak were to beat Kashinsky and become the IBF mandatory, he would then have bigger fish to fry than wasting time (and potentially risking his spot) on a mere domestic grudge, no?
If he will win this one, maybe IBF soon will install him as mandatory vs Briedis while Briedis still does hold IBF belt and didn't had vacated his belt.
