If I mentioned the name "Beibut Shumenov" (13-1, 8), fans may be forgiven for asking who is he. The Kazakhstan Light Heavyweight who has held the WBA title for just shy of 4 years has been a fighter who we could very easily describe as "MIA". His almost 4 year reign as champion has seem him spending the last 18 months out of the ring and out of action as the division has swiftly warmed up.
Despite once being the hottest property in the division Shumenov's career disappearance has left many dropping him outside of their divisional top 10 and in fact it's hard to argue with them. I, personally, tend to like the idea of "inactive, unranked" which should be the case if fighter simply doesn't fight.
This weekend sees Shumenov returning to action as he takes on the little known Tamas Kovacs (23-0, 14). Who? Exactly.
Kovacs may have a very pretty looking record on paper but he's one of those fighters whose actual record tells us more than the numbers themselves suggest. For example Kovacs has faced one name of interest, Hamza Wandera. Wandera, the younger brother of Kassim Ouma, twice dropped Kovacs on route to a narrow and highly questionable split decision. When you consider that Wandera was stopped in 3 by Ismayl Sillakh this should tell plenty about the credentials of Kovacs.
Aged 36 and hailing from Slovakia we can't help but think that Kovacs is simply a lamb to the slaughter here for Shumenov who should have the power, skills and speed to destroy Kovacs dream any time he wishes.
Prediction-Shumenov TKO6 (after he shakes some ring rust off)
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