Sergey Kuzmin vs. Amir Mansour

In ~24 hours in Moscow, the other skillful and explosively powerful Russian with the given name Сергей and last initial K. will be in action, taking on the 45-year-old late-blooming American fringe contender on very short notice for the latter, with the vacant WBC International heavyweight title at stake. TV details are TBD.

Kuzmin has a deep amateur pedigree (victories over Roberto Cammarelle wide on points, and Joe Joyce via KO1 - 'nuff said!!) and has every imaginable advantage, including being 15 years Mansour's junior and 2" taller with a 1½" edge in reach. Mansour was also brought in on just 20 days' notice when Lucas Browne withdrew to pursue a greener-pasture (and just greener, if you know what I mean) opportunity versus Joseph Parker. Even so, the ornery & hard-hitting southpaw is a round-the-calendar gym rat and will come in his usual sculpted athletic shape, while Kuzmin has been to, er, let himself go - and is taking a colossal step up in class here.

Pretty intriguing stuff for Monday afternoon boxing.

 

On the undercard will be a slew of young unbeaten prospects, mostly from Russia but including a couple of visitors from abroad.

Most notable among these is Alexey Egorov. Just a week shy of the anniversary of his debut, at 3-0, he is battling capable & experienced countryman Andrei Kniazev for the Russian cruiser title. My last time personally witnessing Egorov perform is when he fought a rematch with Clemente Russo in the semi-pro APB, nearly three years ago* - in which he dominated but was very nearly robbed (suspiciously preferential treatment being par for the course for Russo in the amateurs) and took a majority decision to put an impressive 2-0 flourish on the rivalry with the decorated Italian (who took a pair of silver medals in his three Olympic appearances, plus a pair of golds in the world championships). Just based on those old impressions, however, Egorov is a must-watch commodity and I remember thinking his style being one that seemed very pro-suited already.

*Here is the RBR thread for Egorov vs. Russo II: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/clemente-russo-vs-aleksei-egorov-ii-rbr.528217/

In the co-feature will be Eduard Troyanovsky making the second leg of his comeback tour since getting blitzed in forty seconds by Julius Indongo (where he, incidentally, was co-headlining that same card where Egorov debuted). In his path will be little-known Paraguayan kayo artist Carlos Manuel Portillo. Until last month, Portillo had, despite having a nice-looking 20-0 (15) record, fought nobody of any consequence. Then in a mildly surprising upset, he battered Czar Amonsot, the universally well-liked Aussie-based Filipino. Amonsot came in with a WBA #3 ranking in the world at super lightweight and riding a 16-0-2-1 (12) unbeaten streak dating back a full decade to his UD loss to Michael Katsidis on the B-Hop vs. Winky HBO PPV undercard, after which he suffered a blood clot on the brain and nearly lapsed into a coma, making his comeback a feel-good story and its abrupt & violent end all the more rueful. So expect a quick & dirty firefight in this one - either Troyanovsky's class and experience will tell and he'll reestablish himself, putting an end to Carpi's run as soon as it began and rendering Amonsot's undoing for naught - or he will get caught and put to sleep again himself, with the power of Portillo legitimized and the small landlocked nation, essentially the overgrown city-state of Asunción, offering up its first world class boxer since...well, ever.

 

I think Kuzmin by UD probably makes the most sense. The stoppage is probably there for him if he wants it bad enough, and if he comes in properly fit. Weights should be announced in the next couple of hours. If he pares down to mid-240's or lower, I'll shift to a late TKO for Kuzmin, wearing down a game but very old, very out-sized, and very late-subbing Mansour.

 

I mean, to Amir's credit, he completely earned the respect of the boxing community the hard way over the last 4 years since he made his US television debut. Back then he was a random BoxRec curiosity that nobody ever imagined would become a legitimate contender. He was some 41 year old guy with a 19-0 (14) record that had never stepped up and never fought on TV, and widely considered a joke that would get exposed the moment he got in with a live body. Instead, even though he is just 4-2-1 since then with his best scalp being Kassi or Kauffman, he still has begrudgingly commanded a nod of approval from the skeptical mob, giving an excellent account of himself in his two defeats and draw in the major underdog role.

That said, I agree. He is a gimme for Kuzmin, especially on barely three weeks' notice, and if Kuzmin put a good sweat into this camp (thinking he was facing Browne), like I stated above, he should deal Mansour the first outright KO loss of his career, and maybe put the punctuation mark on it.

 

None published to my knowledge.

As for the erstwhile "G.W. Hope" (dead ass serious, that used to be his actual ring moniker...he even had it printed on his trunks ) - that kid baffles me. His chin, apparently, is pretty durable. This despite the fact that his first loss came via pounding-into-unconsciousness by fellow C-grade basic sloppy honky regional club-fighter Tony Grano, before which he got visibly buzzed a few times by fellow C-grade basic sloppy honky regional club-fighter Malachy Farrell before ultimately coming out victorious in a war of attrition.

Or his punch resistance somehow increased dramatically over the course of a decade?

Or perhaps Grano and Farrell, despite being palookas, actually punch harder than Mansour or Arreola?

I give up. Boxing makes no sense whatsoever.

 

Ring walks, btw, are set to start at 4pm EST.

That much we know, but we still have no clue whether any of this is going to be televised.

 

Well then. Peace out, Amir! Thanks for the memories, and turning out to be an entertaining and gutsy warrior and not the padded-record joke we all just assumed you were 4 years ago!

 

Mansour looks hewn from stone as usual but it won't be enough, unless Kuzmin really shits the bed and/or is having serious personal issues outside the ring or something.