Lebedev-Jones - ALL OUT WAR!

By Stevie Adams @MrStevieAdams

The new champion, Guillermo Jones.

In an epic battle that wouldn't have been out of place in a Rocky movie, Guillermo Jones knocked out Russian warrior, Denis Lebedev to regain the WBA world cruiserweight title. 

Considering that Jones is 41 years old and has only fought three times since 2008, the win was even more incredible than the fight itself.

Lebedev once again proved how tough he is by fighting for 8 rounds with his right eye gruesomely swollen shut. 

Guilllermo Jones and Denis Lebedev reach an agreement...

Cruiserweight contenders Guillermo Jones and Denis Lebedev have finally reached an agreement for a fight that will take place later this year. To do this, the purse bid for the fight had to be cancelled.

Jones (38-3-2, 30 KO's), 40-years old, is the WBA world champ but incredibly two defences of the belt since September 2008 when he defeated Firat Arslan. He is a decent fighter that has had a few good victories over his lengthy career but he is just too inactive. This is what I think will be his downfall in this fight. Lebedev (24-1, 18 KO's), 32-years old, has not fought many top level opponents recently but he has been fighting pretty regularly. His last three fights have all been victories, but they have only been against a well-past-it Roy Jones Jr and James Toney, and Shawn Cox. The one defeat he has on his record comes against Marco Huck who is the No.1 cruiserweight around right now.

A date and location for the fight has still not been confirmed but it is looking likely that it will take place on October 8th as Lebedev was scheduled in for that date already. Russia looks to be the most suitable location, purely because of the fact that this is not a big, big fight and Lebedev can draw in a few fans over there, something that would not happen anywhere else.

It was not very hard to make a prediction for this fight. Lebedev is the younger, fitter and fresher fighter and I think it will be a pretty easy victory for him. Jones could make it a hard fight for the Russian but only if he is in tip-top condition and ready for the fight.

Toney withdraws from fight with Adamek...

A severely out-of-shape James Toney.

I'm sure that most of you are not actually bothered about this but just to let you know, former pound-for-pound contender James Toney has withdrawn from his fight with Tomasz Adamek on September 8th.

Tomasz Adamek.

The reason that a lot of people will be happy about this is because it was just a terrible fight. There was nothing interesting about it and a lot of people would probably still watch it, but nobody would actually look forward to it.

Toney is now 43-years old and just nowhere near as good as he used to be. There used to be a time when his defence was impeccable and he would outclass almost everyone he met in the ring. But now he barely gets a win, and loses to people that wouldn't have even touched him 15 years ago. He's only fighting on because he needs the money so his heart isn't really in it. His performance against Denis Lebedev last year was embarrassing for a guy who at one point arguably was the best fighter in the world. Now, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of fighters around today that he could beat, but he's never going to be a world class fighter again, and Adamek is world class. The 35-year old Pole isn't the best the heavyweight division has to offer but he is still a decent fighter and could potentially do a let of damage to Toney's mind, body and reputation.

A lot of people were complaining about the fight, which could have been one of the reasons that it was cancelled. The only information we have been given so far is that Toney has withdrawn from the fight due to reasons that are unknown.

Adamek is still planning to fight on September 8th but it is still unclear as to who he will actually face. The former world title contender wants to boost his popularity and value before challenging for another world title in 2013.