Beibut Shumenov (17-2, 10 KOs) stopped No. 11-rated Junior “Hurricane” Wright (15-2-1, 12 KOs) in the 10th round tonight at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Shumenov vs. Wright appeared on the off-TV undercard of the Showtime tripleheader headlined by Erislandy Lara, Jermall Charlo and Jermell Charlo.
Shumenov, a former WBA light heavyweight world champion, is first two-division world champion from a Soviet-bloc country. The native of Kazakhstan, fighting out of Las Vegas, also earned the right to challenge unified WBA Super/ IBF cruiserweight world champion Denis Lebedev (29-2, 22 KOs) within 120 days, as mandated by the WBA.
Recently Shumenov was frustrated to be left out of the title mix, being declared the interim WBA champion but being denied a title fight for the regular bout. All this, while there’s still a “super” champion by the organization. It’s a tangled, and frankly stupid web of sanctioning body politics.
Nevertheless, a fight between Lebedev and Shumenov could be an intriguing one, and would hopefully get picked up by US television.
