Super 8 cruiserweight tournament.

Why on earth aren't Usyk and Lebedev participating?!
No chance Bellew would even if he hadn't moved to HW, he'd sooner retire IMO

Can't believe Usyk isn't taking part especially with his amateur tournament background.
Gassiev strong favourite for me but Kudryashov big wild card if he takes part, which he should

 

Looks like Usyk has a HBO contract which clashes with this tourney, and Lebedev already has a fight sceduled next month (against some pushover).

I'm torn between Breidis and Gassiev for the favorite spot but indeed Kudryashov is the dark horse here with that fight/life ending left hook of his.

 

I don't think Usyk has an exclusive HBO contract, he has a bad promoter, aside from Glowacki he's been fighting lower level opponents since 2014.
He needs a new promoter.

 

Bad career decisions?
Won a title in his 10th fight.
Sells out 60k arenas in Ukraine.
Fought twice on HBO in the span of 4 months.

 

Kudryashov is likely in, Lebedev won't be. As reported on the Scene. Lebedev thinks he can make good enough money against hand picked opponents defending the WBA belt he still has after losing to Gassiev. Kurdryashov will be a great addition of course.

 

Very solid addition to the tournament. Kudryashov guarantees interesting fights and he can beat anyone.

 

Mike Perez should 100% enter this tournament as the undoubted wildcard and dark horse.

I make Gassiev heavy favourite.

 

Yay, Kudryashov wants in! He will be an entertaining addition to the series.
Usyk has very unpleasantly surprised me. There's no justification for not wanting in on this. What on earth is his logic?

 

Yeah, it would be nice to see Perez in, but he should test his leaner body against at least a fringe contender before he fights the best, and that wouldn't give him time to be ready for the tourney. He'd have a shot if he's thrown in, but just not best for him.

 

Maybe Usyk will fight Lebo in Russia next year?

 

Usyk will almost certainly lose his top two position by the conclusion of this tournament.

If not he'll have to seriously up his opposition level in the meantime.

 

Disagree. I think the winner will have a strong case for being #1 in the division, but Usyk will still hold on to the #2 spot pretty definitively.

 

Usyk is better than any of the cruiserweights in that tournament period..................he should have been allowed to compete but the others did not want him there because they would have no chance to win............