Russian boxing in our time is in its heyday, as evidenced by a whole galaxy of champions in various weight categories according to leading world versions. Today, even boys know such names as Sergey Kovalev, Eduard Troyanovsky, Denis Lebedev, Grigory Drozd, Alexander Povetkin and others. In this article, we will meet a man named Denis Lebedev (biography of the boxer, the family will be examined in more detail).
Birth and childhood
The future cruiserweight leader was born on August 14, 1979 in the city of Stary Oskol, Belgorod Region, in Russia. The guy started boxing on the convincing advice of his father. Also, the young athlete went to gymnastics training. By the way, he was initially considered a promising gymnast, not a boxer. But the section was closed, after which Denis began to intensely engage in boxing. Martial arts were not easy for the guy, and he was not among the best, but in the end he was able to climb up, but this path was long and thorny.
After leaving school, Denis Aleksandrovich Lebedev was drafted into the Armed Forces, where he continued to actively train at CSKA. It was during the service that he met his future opponent, Alexander Alekseev.
Lovers Career
The first major success in the amateur ring for Lebedev came in 1997, when he won the European Championship. At that time, Denis performed in the category of up to 75 kilograms. At the beginning of the tournament, he was able to convincingly deal with the representative of Italy, Michele Aramini, sending him to a deep knockout in the first three minutes.
In the quarterfinal, the Russian stopped early the Azerbaijani Gabriad Orujiev, and in the semi-final the Turkish Hassan Kilich was knocked out. In the final battle, Lebedev defeated Hungarian György Hidwegi on points and thus became the best on the European continent.
In 1998, Denis Aleksandrovich Lebedev spoke at the Goodwill Games, held then in New York. The Russian boxer has already fought in the category of up to 81 kg. Reaching the semifinals, Denis eventually lost to the American Anderson and ultimately won the bronze of the tournament.
Performances in the professional ring
In 2001, Denis became a professional and began to actively perform in the ring. Already in the third match, he won the title of champion of Russia, after which he spent 13 more successful battles. However, due to some life circumstances, he still decided to leave the sport.
Outside the ring, the athlete spent four years. And in 2008 he returned to battle and on July 19, Georgian Archil Mezvrishvili knocked out. Then two more victories followed: over Nick Okot and Dmitry Adamovich.
Such success led to the opportunity to meet in the ring with the ex-world champion Enzo Maccarinelli. The fight ended in victory for the Russian and brought him the title of intercontinental champion.
German fight
In 2010, Denis Aleksandrovich Lebedev held a duel with the then champion Marco Hook. In Berlin, the Russian acted actively and went the entire distance. The fight turned out to be very competitive, spectacular. As a result, Marco won the victory by a separate judge’s decision, although many experts and spectators unequivocally agreed that the Russian fighter was deprived of a well-deserved victory.
Duel with the American legend
In May 2011, boxer Denis Aleksandrovich Lebedev fought with the world famous legendary Roy Jones. The whole battle was fought by the Russians. In the fourth three-minute Lebedev was able to "swing" Jones, but he survived. In the ninth round, Lebedev had a chance to show strength of mind and body after a missed strong blow to the head.
Everything was finally decided at the end of the 10th round, when Denis knocked out the American after a series of hard blows. In this episode, the referee hesitated a bit, because Roy received several extra blows, because he was already in a standing knockout.
Fight with Tony
In November 2011, a fight between Lebedev and boxing veteran James Toney took place in Moscow. The duel was completely dictated by the Russian athlete, so the judges quite naturally gave the victory to him. It is noteworthy that for this fight the American was forced to lose 26 kilograms in order to invest in the limit of the weight category. This victory allowed Lebedev to become the interim WBA world champion.
Drama
On May 17, 2013, Denis Aleksandrovich Lebedev, after long negotiations, nevertheless met with the Panamanian Guillermo Jones. The fight was very spectacular and, one might even say, bloody. Already in the first round, Lebedev had a very strong hematoma over his right eye, because of which he tried to knock out his opponent, but Guillermo withstood the blows, but the Russian did not. In the 11th three-minute period, Denis was knocked down, which the referee eventually interpreted as a technical knockout. Thus, the Panamanian was able to take away the belt from Denis.
But the confrontation between the two boxers did not end there. On October 18, 2013, Jones was stripped of his rank because of the dope he had discovered, and on April 24, 2014, the Panamanian failed the doping test directly on the day of the battle, as a result of which Lebedev kept his belt intact for the opponent’s hands.
In June 2015, by decision of the WBA, the result of the 2013 duel between the Russian and the Panamanian was annulled.
Holder of two belts
In May 2016, Denis Lebedev, whose brief biography is discussed in this article, held a unifying battle against Argentinean Victor Ramirez, who at that time was the IBF world champion.
The first round was held with a minimal advantage of the Russian fighter. But already in the second three-minute period, Lebedev literally destroyed the Argentine, who at some point completely stopped responding to all Denis's attacks. The referee stopped the fight and awarded the victory to the Russian champion.
Family status
Denis Aleksandrovich Lebedev is a vivid example of an excellent family man. Despite the enormous workload, the boxer has a wife, Anna, and three daughters. The athlete met his wife back in school years. In his many interviews, Denis always thanks his wife for her patience, love and devotion to the family hearth. Also, the champion does not insist that his children subsequently become professional athletes.