Denis Lebedev didn’t sent James ‘Lights Out’ Toney to canvas, as he had pledged to do, but that didn’t stop him from winning the WBA cruiserweight belt in a one-sided bout in Moscow.
The Russian dominated throughout the whole fight against the decorated American fighter and was close to finishing it before time. But the 43-year-old found some hidden reserves and each time survived Lebedev’s assault.
During his long professional career, Toney had never been knocked out – and nor was he on the night. However, that didn’t really upset Lebedev as all three judges unanimously gave all 12 rounds to the Russian fighter. The final score, 120-108, speaks for itself.
After the fight Lebedev paid tribute to his opponent.
“With all respect to James and his team I wanted and deserved to win more,” he stressed afterwards.
Thus, the 32-year-old southpaw, who knocked out Roy Jones Jr in his previous fight, made amends for his split-decision defeat to Marco Huck for the WBO cruiserweight title in Germany last December and has now deservedly won the WBA belt.