Denis Lebedev is a master of comebacks. He had accomplished a sweet return several times in his career but this one, against Thabiso Mchunu, has provent to be a fault. The South African got one of his nicest wins - if not the nicest - and acquired a vacant WBC Silver cruiserweight title after twelve rounds of his own best, which has been scripted as a wide unanimous decision in his favour.





Scores were 120-107, 119-108, and 115-112 for Mchunu.

Lebedev, 40, was rusty from the starters. He lacked speed - hardly a surprise for anyone as the former long-time WBA champion wasn't a swift mover even at the height of his power - but he also came short in timing and, which was unexpected, in punching power.





The engine needs to be warmed up after the ignition for a proper roadwork if hasn't been used for a while. Lebedev's engine was of a proven quality and got to the proper regime in a right time in the past. It was surely not the first time the Russian missed a long span (this time - thirteen months since his last outing against Mike Wilson). He has previously missed thirty six months in mid-00's, then sixteen more after an epic encounter with Guillermo Jones, then fourteen months in 2017-2018 between Mark Flanagan and Hizni Altunkaya.





This time was different in that Lebedev has actually stepped up in competition after a hiatus. He followed his almost four-year stint off the ring with a trio of warm-up fight before beating Eliseo Castillo. When he came back after the G. Jones fight he was facing Pawel Kolodziej, an unknown commodity with a padded record. And Hizni Altunkaya wasn't in the same league with Lebedev and by far.





Mchunu, 31, was. He began to prove it right from the opening belt. His sneaky right jab was bad news for the stationary Russian, and he followed it up with some hard and unexpected right hooks on his way in. The South African is listed at Boxrec of the same height with Lebedev but the WBC #8 ranked fighter was visibly shorter yet no less powerful than the Russian, who was always known for his chiseling physique.





Lebedev missed muc and just cannot get his punches together. He sometimes landed on the Mchunu's chin but the South African has never been rocked and took the punch well. Lebedev was also showing solid whiskers, yet when you are showing themm to much it doesn't make you any favours with the judges. They prefer beauty of the other sort. The latter was produced solely by the African fighter, despite Lebedev putting in everything in.





Round three was possibly crucial for the outcome. WBC #9 Lebedev was looking fariely solid but then happened an aacidental headbutt, which couldn't be clearly seen in the replay. It looked like there was no blood (although a cut over Thabiso's right eye), and it looked like there was no headbutt at all but referee Ian John-Lewis of England deducted a point from the Russian under the WBC rules and regulations. The referee was in green shirt for the reason - the fight was billed for a vacant WBC Silver 200lb title, with a winner being proposed a clash against a winner of the fight for a vacant title between #1 Ilunga Makabu and, most probably, WBC #4 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk.





Mchunu continued to show his best after that round, and Lebedev, though wearing his usual poker face and being visibly fit, was unable to match him. Shorter (only visibly?) Mchunu ducked low to become even a smaller target for Lebedev, who had problems hitting the air as he was hunting mostly for the head. The South African used smashing right hands to keep Lebedev honest and misoriented. The Russian tried for a final surge but was unable to deal any solid damage to Mchunu, who was winning even the last round.





After the Kudryashov fight, which ended in a mild controversy, there were reasons to expect some questionable scores in the main event. Still, it winds up as a win for Mchunu, whose record (22-5, 13 KOs) speaks little of his present shape and past achievements, which include wins over solid contenders in Olanrewaju Durodola, Eddie Chambers and Thomas Oosthuizen, and now - Lebedev, his biggest achievement.





Lebedev's comeback proved to be ill-wise. He hasn't fought an opponent of this class for three years (since his fight against then-unified champion Murat Gassiev) as Flanagan, Altunkaya and Wilson were in a different league with Mchunu. The Russian's record is now 32-3, 23 KOs, and he suffered the first non-debatable win of his career (the other two - to Marko Huck in 2010 and Gassiev in 2016 - were via split decisions).