Denis Lebedev v Guillermo Jones

WBA Cruiserweight title action sees former champion Guillermo Jones (?-?) attempt to recapture his old belt from Russian Denis Lebedev (?-?) in a bout that has been made...and than cancelled more often than Floyd Mayweather Jr has "taken vacations".

Now aged 41 years old what Jones has left is a bit of a mystery. He's looked good in his most recent fights stopping Firat Arslan, Valery Brudov and Michael Marrone but those bouts span almost 5 years and it really is a mystery as to what he has left in him.

At his best Jones was a tricky customer. He was big, powerful, fast, slippery and managed to land an amazing number of sneaky shots. He could look lazy but yet effective, clumsy but yet intelligent and hurt yet teak tough. In fact Jones has one of those styles which never looks good but also never lets his opponents look much good either.

Although Jones is 3-1-2 in world title fights many feel that he should be 6-0, his draws with Jhonny Nelson and Laurent Boudouani (who he also lost to) were all highly controversial and all came away from home. Even though he has had bad fortune on the road he's proven he isn't adverse to fighting away and has won fights in Venezuela, the USA and most notably German (where he stopped Arslan).

At "just" 33 years old Lebedev, the home fighter for this bout is significantly younger than the challenger though is also less experienced in terms of both professional bouts and professional rounds. Despite his relative inexperience Lebedev has proven to be a world class fighter mixing it with Enzo Maccarinelli, Alexander Alekseev and Marco Huck amongst others, with only Huck managing to score a victory over him (albeit controversially).

Lebedev is a small, powerful Cruiserweight who hits like a truck, uses very under-rated boxing skills and has an excellent killer instinct. He's shown a bit too much respect in some fights, notably his bout with Roy Jones, though when he lets his hands go he's a destructive force able to break bones and out man the tough men of the division.

Although Lebedev isn't one of the big names in world boxing he is one of the sports most genuinely exciting fighters. His power brings excitement, his toughness brings action and overall it's always a joy to watch him in a bout. This time around though he could be in for a tough night as he gives away an astonishing 5" in height.

The height difference between the two men will be drastic and a major disadvantage for Lebedev, who is a big betting favourite. In terms of skills it'd be fair to say that Jones is the more skilled man, Lebedev the more powerful, both are tough and both are proven and whilst the size is clearly an advantage for Jones the age is a clear disadvantage.

Prime for prime I'd have to go with Jones though now, with too many questions surrounding him I have to go with Lebedev who is fresher and won't have the ring rust or just general rust of Jones.

Prediction-Lebedev TKO10

Denis Lebedev v Santander Silgado

Exciting Russian Cruiserweight Denis Lebedev (24-1, 18) makes the first defense of his WBA title later today as he faced unbeaten power puncher Santander Silgado (23-0, 18) in a bout that promises fireworks. Despite this bout generally being one that has gone under-the-radar I'm certainly expecting a very fun to watch bout that really could be over if you blink.

The hard hitting Lebedev got upgraded from the interim champion just a few months ago after Panamanian Guillermo Jones was eventually stripped by the WBA who had seemingly gotten bored of his antics (including pulling out of fights on a regular basis).

For many fans of the sport the Cruiserweight division has slowly become one of the top divisions in the sport thanks to the combination of exciting fights and fun to watch fighters such as Yoan Pablo Hernandez, Marco Huck and Lebedev. In fact many fan of the sport consider Lebedev to be the best of the bunch with his only loss being a very highly debated decision loss to Huck in a bout that most felt the Russian has won.

Lebedev combines genuine toughness with both power and skill. He's not the quickest guy in the division or even the biggest but his all round ability and genuinely hurtful shots have made him his name. What has also helped has been his notable scalps including former WBO champion     Enzo Maccarinelli, once top amateur Alexander Alekseev and American legends Roy Jones Jr and James Toney (both admittedly well beyond their sell by date).

Despite being 33 years old Lebedev is a young 33 with just 132 rounds under his belt though a lot of this has to do with his power which is genuinely devastating. He can score stoppages both with stunning 1-punch KO power or by grinding opponents down which helps make him a dangerous fighter, every punch he lands hurts.

With plenty known about how good Lebedev is, the real question about this fight is just how good is Santander Silgado? The American based Colombian has a very similar looking record to Lebedev with a actually a higher KO% though though sadly these have been coming at a much lower level, with Silgado actually struggling when he has stepped up to face some more established fighters. Interestingly the Colombian has had to go the distance in his last 3 fights, all in the US against limited opponents.

Sadly, as we all know with Colombians it's hard to really judge just how powerful they actually are due to inflated records from fighting at home. Oddly with Silgado we've actually seen him fighting around the world (having fought in Colombia, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Germany and the USA) however he does have a 10-0 (10) record in Colombia, as opposed to the 13-0 (8) away from the land of his birth.

If Silgado goes in to this thinking he's the puncher he'll be wrong, if he thinks he's the boxer I'd again guess that he'd be wrong. Lebedev is just better in every which way and I'd be shocked if Silgado manages to do much other than get sparked out with a KO of the year contender.

Prediction-Lebedev KO5