Due to the cleaner punches by lebedev, he got the result and also home town favourism. It was a fun fight, kalenga couldn't be backed up very strong! he was loose and didn't find it hard to land on Denis, but he looked a bit ragged at times and that may of been the decider. He was eating some hard lefts through out the fight and took them well, but he didn't have the gas to TAKE the title. They very wary of each other's power. Right now I'd say Usyk would beat both. Kalanga is too flat footed to outbox Usyk and lebedev is too easy too hit, and too small. Big fan of Denis but he does look quite small compared to some cruisers! Anyway it was a nice fight now I have to watch kudrayshov do his business.
He lacked the boxing skill more than anything, his feet were excruciatingly slow, defense was bad, poor accuracy.
home town favoritism had nothing to do with it. the judges even scored it closer as most of us saw it. very good fight though.
Exactly. Lebedev won almost every round of the fight, Kalenga won 2 MAYBE 3 rounds(including the 4th which was a 10-8 ) There was absolutely zero home favoritism, the judges had it closer than it should of been, and Kalenga was completely outclassed aside from a few moments here and there.
Well I think the cleaner and harder shots were landed by lebedev but for many rounds yalenga was casually popping his head back with loose right hands, but lebedev did manage to slip and block a lot. Kalenga wasn't doing anything outstanding but was landing, even partially blocked punches, and then lebedev would take the round with that left hand over the top of the right hand etc. if kalenga stepped up the pace he would either of got ko'd late or took more rounds the ones that were close.
Kalenga was game and has serious stamina but the gulf in class was there for all to see, not a close fight at all.
Must of been watching a different fight. Ah well happy lebedev won. And good luck to kalenga who would give most a decent fight in that division.
Yeah I thought he was going to fall to Lebedevs power early based on how things were going. But he held on, and was able to take his shots over 12 surprisingly.
CW seems like a division stacked with very good boxers, with Usyk looking like the only elite one of the bunch. There are a few guys that are still unproven like Kudryashov, Kucher, Makabu but it seems like Usyk has he biggest upside of any of them. I think by 2016 Usyk will be a belt holder and on his way to unification.
Kalenga only won a few rounds but he was dangerous from start to finish and Lebedev had to remain focused and be alert to the threat his power presented at all times. Kalenga has a very good chin and he can punch with both hands. His stamina seems to have improved since the last time I saw him too, which was when he beat Masternak (I seem to remember him gassing in the late rounds of that fight). That's probably down to him training up in Big Bear with Abel Sanchez. Lebedev boxed really well and displayed nice footwork and movement. I could tell very early on that he was going to win pretty comfortably baring him getting caught and stopped or running out of gas. However, like I said, Kalenga was a threat right up until the end.
