By Luke Furman

The team behind Russian boxer Denis Lebedev have been unable to reach an agreement with Arsen Goulamirian according to promotional company World of Boxing.

Earlier in June, the World Boxing Association (WBA) announced that the winner of the WBA (Super) belt in the cruiserweight division, Lebedev, had agreed to have a mandatory fight with the WBA's "regular" champion of the weight class, Gulamiryan.

“We negotiated with the team of Goulamirian, but in the end the conditions of the French side were unacceptable, as the financial terms that were offered by them were significantly lower than the level of money that Denis has received in the past, even for his non-title fights,” said Russian manager Vadim Kornilov.

"We'd like to hold this fight in Russia, but the time frame set [by the sanctioning body] has limited this opportunity."

The Russian fighter was returned to the status of the WBA (Super) champion in the cruiserweight division after Oleksandr Usyk dropped the title and made a move to the heavyweight division.

Before that status change, Lebedev was recognized by the WBA as the "champion in recess." The boxer, who will turn 40 in August, has a record of 32 wins with two defeats.

Goulamirian is regarded by some as a rising force at the weight, with an undefeated record of 24 wins and 16 knockouts. Last year he stopped Mark Flanagan and Ryad Merhy.

Luke Furman covers boxing for boksor.org.