Kazakhstani boxer Beibut Shumenov has solidified his return after the defeat by Bernard Hopkins in the light heavyweight last year. This year, Shumenov (16-2, 10 KOs) moved up to the cruiserweight division.
Kazakhstani boxer Beibut Shumenov has solidified his return after the defeat by Bernard Hopkins in the light heavyweight last year. This year, Shumenov (16-2, 10 KOs) moved up to the cruiserweight division.
In addition, Shumenov hired Ismael Salas as his coach.
“Ismael is the coach I dreamed of finding. We have a lot of similarities in our boxing backgrounds. I learned to box in the Soviet Union system and the Cuban system that Ismael teaches is very similar. Me and Ismael had great chemistry right away from the first day of training,” ESPN cited Shumenov as saying.
Moreover, the boxer said he felt more comfortable in the cruiserweight, since he was not stressed about loosing weight for a fight. In his first fight in the cruiserweight, Shumenov defeated Bobby Thomas Jr (14-2-1, 9 KOs).
On July 25, the Kazakhstani boxer faced a more experienced fighter BJ Flores (31-1-2, 20 KOs) in Las Vegas in the fight for the the vacant WBA World Interim cruiserweight title. Shumenov won the bout by the unanimous decision of the judges. It seems the new tactics have paid for Shumenov brining him closer to the champion title.
Now, as the holder of the interim title, Shumenov will face Denis Lebedev, the WBA cruiserweight champion.
By Gyuzel Kamalova