Denis Lebedev: MD Not Allowed To Stop WBA Fight, Fires Manager
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
New York, NY (July 9th, 2013)– Former World Boxing Association World Cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev has fired manager Vladimir Hryunov. Information has now leaked out to Lebedev that the ringside doctor was forbidden from stopping the world title bout with Guillermo Jones in Moscow on May 17, despite Lebedev fighting with a huge hemotoma disfiguring the right side of his face. The fight should have been stopped from the sixth round onward, but continued until Lebedev got brutally knocked out in the eleventh round by Jones.
The ringside doctor has confirmed he was forbidden from stopping the world title bout under all circumstances, thus jeopardizing the life of the fighter. The doctor did not reveal who threatened him, but the message is clear on foreign soil: traveling fighters in European and other countries like Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Poland and Australia have to knock the fighter out cold and cleanly to win the fight. Otherwise, no shot, Jones, the WBA champion in recess, well knew the score before he got to Russia, and did what he had to do, despite the best efforts to take the bout to the judge’s cards. Despite Lebedev’s disfiguring and perhaps career ending right eye and facial injuries, the judges had Lebedev ahead 97-93, 96-94, and 96-94. Had Lebedev beaten the count, the scorecards would have been 104-104, 104-104, and 105-103 for Lebedev, meaning he would have had to survive the eleventh round without going down and then win or draw the twelfth round to retain the WBA title, but it was not to be.
COMMENTS
English