The 27-year-old Silgado replaced ex-champion Guillermo Jones, who lost his title to Lebedev by default after pulling out of the fight against the Russian, for the fight in the Russian capital.

The undefeated Silgado comes up against the toughest challenge of his career in world No. 1 Lebedev, but insists he is cool and composed.

“Thank God, I don’t feel any nerves ahead of the fight, so, I can say that I go into the fight confident,” Silgado said at Sunday’s weigh-in.

“I have 23 victories, a 100 percent record.”

Silgado, who gives away just under two kilograms (4.4 pounds) to Lebedev, also says he has acclimatized for the bout, which has coincided with the onset of winter and daytime temperatures of minus 18 degrees Celsius.

“In the first few days it was strange, the weather is totally different, but now I have completely adapted,” Silgado said.

Silgado started his career in 2004 and became Colombian national champion four years later. He holds the regional WBA and WBC titles.

Lebedev, the Russian “Vityaz,” has a record of 24 wins and one defeat, suffered to Marco Huck in 2010.

American rapper, Busta Rhymes, will arrive in the Russian capital to support his neighbor, Santander Silgado, in a cruiserweight WBA title bout against home favorite Denis Lebedev on December 17.

The rapper and the boxer became friends as they come from the same New York borough, Brooklyn.

Undefeated Silgado (28 wins, 18 KOs) was born in Colombia, but he later moved to the US and now lives and trains in NYC.

Busta Rhymes is one of the most prominent American rap artists, who has received eleven Grammy nominations.

There’ll be some other big names on the team of the 28-year-old challenger.

Former unified WBA, IBF and WBO lightweight champion, Nate Campbell, as well as ten-time belt holder in four divisions, Roy Jones Jr., are also headed for Moscow.

Jones has recently become a frequent visitor to Russia where he suffered a knockout loss to Lebedev in May 2011.

RJ’s rap throughout several Russian cities finished in November, and turned out pretty successful.

Denis Lebedev was declared WBA ‘regular’ champion this October without actually having to get into the ring.

The previous WBA cruiserweight champ, Guillermo Jones, had been stripped of his title for repeatedly refusing to defend it against the Russian who was the mandatory challenger.

The bout against Silgado will be his first title defense for Lebedev as the 33-year-old currently boasts a record of 24 wins (18 KOs) and just a single defeat.

Article Link – http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=60542#ixzz2FJPvJtnfThis is a legal waiver. By copying and using the material from this article, you agree to give full credit to BoxingScene.com or provide a link to the original article.
By Alexey Sukachev
Weights have been set tonight for tomorrow’s big show at Crocus City Hall in Myakinino, Moscow, Russia. The event will be crowned by the WBA cruiserweight championship between a newly crowned champion Denis Lebedev and his voluntary challenger Santander Silgado. Two more WBA minor belts will be at stake in two title fights of the undercard, while three more bouts will constitute the show.
Lebedev’s opponent will be undefeated but mostly untested Columbian Santander “Cha Cha” Silgado (23-0, 18 KOs), who is ranked #8 by the WBA and #6 by the WBC. Silgado, 27, once a promising prospect, was forced to miss almost three years off the ring between January 2009 and December 2011. He is 5-0, 2 KOs, since then with two back-to-back unanimous decisions over Joell Godfrey (in August and in October) being in his most recent past. Silgado has weighed-in at 193.75 tonight.
Lebedev’s status was elevated by the World Boxing Association two months ago during their annual convention, when then-reigning (but ultimately inactive) Panamanian champion Guillermo Jones was deemed to be in no position to fight his mandatory challenger (and the WBA interim titleholder) Lebedev in a partial unification of the certain world title. Thus Jones was declared a champion in recess, while Lebedev was name a full-scaled WBA cruiserweight champion. Denis, 33, has fought once this year, knocking out Barbadian Shawn Cox in two at the very same arena. Lebedev was found to be at 197.5 tonight.
Lebedev has trained for the fight with former world title challenger Monte Barrett. “We’ve chosen him for our training camp as he was also a sparring partner for Santander Silgado in Silgado’s past. He can also copy the style of his previous opponents, which makes him very valuable for the future study of your next opponent”, revealed Lebedev in a video quickie with Alexander Pavlov of Sportbox.ru.
“Silgado is coming here to win. I’ve seen one member of his team in Roy Jones’ corner a year and a half ago, when Roy was fighting me in Moscow. That means Team Silgado has carefully studied all the tapes, all the documents, and they know everything about me. I shall not underestimate the Columbian”, added Lebedev.
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In another important cruiserweight match-up, long-time contender Grigoriy Drozd (35-1, 25 KOs) will test his skills against former European champion Jean Marc Monrose (25-5, 15 KOs). This bout is billed for a vacant WBA international title.
WBC #5, WBA #9 and IBF #14 Drozd, 33, has good overall boxing skills and considerable punching power but his stamina is under questions, as it was an issue in his lone stoppage loss to Firat Arslan six years ago in the WBA eliminator. Drozd also missed much, fighting just once between July 2009 and February 2012. He is 2-0, with 2 KOs, this year and aims at a world title shot in his recent future. Drozd has tipped the scales at a division limit of 200 lbs.
Jean Marc Monrose, 31, achieved his greatest success in May 2008, when he knocked out then-champion Johnny Jensen in one to capture the EBU title. He lost it in the very first defense, being knocked out by Marko Huck. Monrose fell apart and lost three straight (including back-to-back defeats from the hands of Steve Herelius) before taking two years off the ring. He came back in June 2012 to outpoint little-known Adel Belhachemi over six. Drozd will be a much tougher assignment for him. Monrose was 198.2 tonight.
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In the third title attraction, undefeated Russian lightweight Eduard Troyanovskiy (12-0, 9 KOs), who is ranked #7 by the WBA, will collide with experienced Columbian upset artist Walter Estrada (42-15-1, 27 KOs). Eduard’s PABA title will be at risk in what is also billed as a partial WBA unification.
Troyanovskiy, 32, is coming off a hard win over Joseph Von Minoza in September and a crowd-pleasing thriller versus Claudiney Lacierda in June. His biggest win is the third-round stoppage of 42-5-2 Matt Zegan in 2010. Estrada, 36, came back from his stoppage loss to Jesse Vargas a year ago with three straight victories at home. His best streak was in the second half of 2010, however, when he knocked out 21-3-3 Verquan Kimbrogh and decisioned 23-7 Jose Reyes and even 33-6-1 Nate Campbell in a span of four months.
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Other fights:
Dmitry Chudinov (6-0-1, 3 KOs) vs Jhonathan Ricar (9-4, 7 KOs) – 8 rounds, middleweights;
Oleg Liseev (5-1, 3 KOs) vs Carlos Galvan (6-0-1, 5 KOs) – 8 rounds, middleweights;
Vladimir Goncharov (1-0) vs Bedarin Toma (6-1, 3 KOs) – 6 rounds, heavyweights.
The show is promoted by Vladimir Hryunov. Doors are opening at 7 PM LT. The TV broadcast by Russia 2 TV channel starts at 8 PM LT.

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Lebedev (24-1, 18 KOs) was once a promising young gun but retired from boxing in 2004 due to both personal reasons and management disorder. He came back in 2008 and hasn’t looked back since. In 2009 and 2010, Lebedev, 33, made a very strong run by beating former champion Enzo Maccarinelli and highly-ranked contenders Eliseo Castillo, Ali Ismailov and Alexander Alekseev – all inside the distance. He was granted a shot at the WBO belt in December 2010, but lost it to Marco Huck in Germany on a controversial split nod. Since then Lebedev has seemingly made a trip back in time by fighting (and effectively defeating) over-the-hill legends Roy Jones Jr. (42 at the time) and James Toney (43 on the date of the fight). He has also crushed obscure Barbadian Shawn Cox, 37, in his latest fight in April 2012 to get an interim WBA strap.
WBA #8 Silgado (23-0, 18 KOs), 27, has also missed almost three years of his very prime, experiencing a lengthy lay-off from January 2009 to December 2011. And it wasn’t his only career break. The Colombian fighter had previously been out of the ring for another two and a half years between 2004 and 2007. Santander has never fought an opponent of note, his biggest test (which he has barely passed with a six-round split decision) being super middleweight Lawrence Chapman (19-4-2).

For Broner, the victory provides him with the WBC lightweight title and significant opportunities to take his career to the next level. Throughout the fight, Broner continuously outclassed DeMarco with his fast hand speed and notable defensive skills.

Even more, Broner showed that he is a high caliber fighter that should be considered one of boxing’s pound for pound best. His boxing skills and character resemble the style of Floyd Mayweatehr Jr., which could lead to Broner becoming the next American superstar within the sport of boxing.

Promotionally, it should be interesting to see who Broner and his manager, Al Haymon, decide to take on next. It would not be surprising to see Broner attempt to move up to junior welterweight in the near future as he has the build and skills to pose a threat for anyone in the division.

In the end, the boxing world got to view a start in the making as Broner showed that he is one of the best in the world. DeMarco is no easy task for any fighter and Broner’s ability to dominate DeMarco should serve as evidence that Broner is a world class fighter. Only time will tell, but the boxing world should keep an eye on Broner as he has the potential to become the next main attraction in the sport of boxing.