Shumenov injured again? Title stripped?
According to www.sports.kz the WBA "regular" Cruiserweight title bout between Beibut Shumenov (18-2, 12) [Бейбут Амирханович Шуменов] and the unbeaten Arsen Goulamirian (24-0, 16) is off.
The site reports that Abel Sanchez, the trainer of Goulamirian, has stated that Shumenov is injured, again, and is not likely to face his man after all. Derailing the plans of Don King, Shumenov's promoter, who won the purse bids for the fight a few months ago.
Apparently the WBA have told members from the Goulamirian team about Shumenov being injured, with speculation being that it's his eye again. This cancelled plans for a May 11th date, a date which never had any venue announced or any real news at all about.
It also kills the hope that this bout would be the world title bout in Kazakhstan that MTK Global were going to put on their Capital City day show in July.
The talk is that Goulamirian will now face Mateusz Masternak (41-5, 28) in June in France for the regular title, before facing the winner of a bout between Denis Lebedev (32-2, 23) and Lawrence Okolie (12-0, 9) in a bout to unify the WBA titles, and lead to a single champion. It should be noted however that the WBA do seem to like to have multiple titles, despite public comments to the contrary, and plans are always subject to change.
If Shumenov is indeed injured, and it is his eye, then we wouldn't be surprised to see the 35 year old hang up the gloves and call time on his enigmatic career.
The site reports that Abel Sanchez, the trainer of Goulamirian, has stated that Shumenov is injured, again, and is not likely to face his man after all. Derailing the plans of Don King, Shumenov's promoter, who won the purse bids for the fight a few months ago.
Apparently the WBA have told members from the Goulamirian team about Shumenov being injured, with speculation being that it's his eye again. This cancelled plans for a May 11th date, a date which never had any venue announced or any real news at all about.
It also kills the hope that this bout would be the world title bout in Kazakhstan that MTK Global were going to put on their Capital City day show in July.
The talk is that Goulamirian will now face Mateusz Masternak (41-5, 28) in June in France for the regular title, before facing the winner of a bout between Denis Lebedev (32-2, 23) and Lawrence Okolie (12-0, 9) in a bout to unify the WBA titles, and lead to a single champion. It should be noted however that the WBA do seem to like to have multiple titles, despite public comments to the contrary, and plans are always subject to change.
If Shumenov is indeed injured, and it is his eye, then we wouldn't be surprised to see the 35 year old hang up the gloves and call time on his enigmatic career.