Gassiev outpoints Lebedev,Saunders wins-Boxing Challenge

The Boxing Challenge rolled on through Europe as all four fights from the challenge were overseas.
Ramon Malpica and I each added three points for the weekend to bring the total to 136-112.

Murat Gassiev won the IBF cruiserweight title with a split decision win over WBA/IBF champ Denis Lebedev in Moscow.
No,that's not a typo,Lebedev applied for a waiver with the WBA to not put that belt on the line,which the WBA ridiculously granted despite Gassiev being ranked by the organization and the fight being at the division weight.
I'm a fan of titles,but this was just idiotic as Lebedev keeps his title despite the loss.
The fight was a good and close one that I scored 115-112 for Gassiev.
Gassiev dropped Lebedev with a body shot in the fifth round and was the harder puncher to offset the busier Lebedev.
Ramon and I each added one point for the Gassiev win.

However,the knockout of the weekend came on the same card in Moscow.
I sometimes criticize sanctioning bodies for rating fighters from countries where their true mettle is not tested until they hit the big time,but occasionally you can hit oil.
This strike came with Julius Indongo,who had never fought outside of Namibia (which will never be confused with even a middling boxing country) knocked Eduard Troyanovsky silly in less than a minute with a right hand that won Indongo the IBF junior welterweight title.
I'm not sure if Indongo is a star in the making (I had never even heard of Indongo before signing for the fight) or a one punch wonder like Bredis Prescott was when he starched Amir Khan,but what a shot!!!



I haven't watched Billy Joe Saunders and his unanimous decision win to retain his WBO middleweight title over Artur Akakov yet,but it's been reported to be a very close fight against an opponent with less than strong credentials.
Saunders defeated Andy Lee for the title a year ago and this was his first defense and wobbled past against a hand-picked opponent.
Saunders seems to have little interest in fighting top notch foes,although he is quite active in talking about fighting them,as he has turned down huge paydays to fight Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez.
The WBO needs to look into this and have Saunders fight someone soon.
Ramon and each added two points for the win.

Editor's Note: I have now watched the fight and scored Saunders a 115-112 winner.

In Moscow,I haven't seen this fight as of now either,but Denis Shafikov shaded Richard Commey via split decision to earn Shafikov a title fight at lightweight against IBF champion Robert Easter,who had won the vacant belt in his last fight via split decision over Commey.
Ramon and I each picked Commey for no points...