Beibut Shumenov, William Joppy Weigh In

Filed under: WBA, WBO, Boxing Video, Boxing Rumors, FanHouse Exclusive

WBA light heavyweight king and former Olympian, Beibut Shumenov, weighed in at the division limit of 175 pounds on Friday, one pound more than challenger and 40-year-old three-time former middleweight (160 pounds) titlist William Joppy of Washington, D.C., for Saturday night's clash to be held before Shumenov's partisan fans in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Joppy (39-6-2, 30 KOs) was a late replacement for southpaw WBO champ, Juergen Braehmer, of Germany, who cited an illness for suddenly boarding an airplane on Monday and leaving Shymkent.

The 32-year-old Braehmer (36-2, 29 knockouts) left without having notified either the 27-year-old Shumenov (10-1, six KOs) or his promoter, Dan Goossen, of Goossen Tutor Promotions.

"Saturday night's fight with Juergen Braehmer is no longer possible, and the last four months, I trained for this fight -- eight hours a day doing nothing but training. I dreamed of unifying both titles -- WBA and WBO -- the highest titles. But he left without saying anything to anybody," said Shumenov, a native of Kazakhstan.

"It happened that Dan's team saw them leaving from the airport the same day. They asked why he was leaving and were told because of nausea and stomach problems. According to our country, he had to see the doctor of the [Kazakhstan] federation but he blatantly refused," said Shumenov. "All of that was saying he wasn't willing to take the fight. Yes, I was disappointed, but now I'm fighting three-time world champion William Joppy. I won't underestimate his skills. His 30 knockouts are impressive."





Joppy was last in the ring for November's 10-round, super middleweight (168 pounds) majority draw with Cory Cummings, ending a two-bout losing streak comprised of respective losses to southpaw IBF super middleweight king Lucian Bute (27-0, 22 KOs), and, Sebastian Demers (31-4, 11 KOs), by 10th-round knockout, in February of 2008, and, 10-round majority decision, in March of 2010.

In June of 1996, Joppy earned the WBA's middleweight crown by ninth-round knockout over previously unbeaten Shinji Takehara, and then twice defended that crown before being dethroned in August of 1997 over the course of a unanimous decision by Julio Cesar Green.

Joppy regained the crown title over Green with a decision in their January, 1998 return bout, and defended it five times over the course of seven straight victories, including a third-round knockout of former world champion Roberto Duran during his initial defense in August of 1998.

A May, 2001, fifth-round knockout by Felix Trinidad dethroned Joppy, yet again. But the resilient fighter rebounded to regain the crown with a November, 2001, unanimous decision over England's Howard Eastman and defended it with an October, 2002, 10th-round stoppage of Naotaka Hozumi.

Following consecutive unanimous decision losses to Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor in December of 2003 and 2004, Joppy reeled off five straight knockout victories -- once as a super middleweight and four times as a light heavyweight -- before being stopped by Bute.





Prior to being chosen for Shumenov, Joppy was to face unbeaten, 32-year-old light heavyweight Gayrat Ahmedov (15-0-1, 10 KOs) of Uzbekistan, who has won seven of nine consecutive victories by knockout.

"I felt welcomed here when I first walked off the plane. We've been on a roller coaster ride with the changing of opponents. Me and Beibut have in common that we both trained for totally different style fighters. Beibut is a great fighter," said Joppy.

"I've watched some of his fights but there's not something I haven't seen before. And he's fought orthodox fighters before," said Joppy. "I'm here to give a great, memorable fight like Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns in their first fight. I came here to fight Gayrat Ahmedov and fell into a world title fight. Wow. It's going to be a barn-burner."

Shumenov is coming off of July's unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Vyacheslav Uzelkov (22-1, 14 KOs) during which Shumenov rose from a first-round knockdown, scored a knockdown himself in the third round, overcame the 120-degree heat of an outdoor stadium at The Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif.

Shumenov won the crown with January's disputed split-decision that dethroned Spanish southpaw Gabriel Campillo, who had defended his belt against Shumenov five months earlier. Campillo was 12-0 in September 2007 when he was knocked out in the sixth round by Uzelkov.





When Shumenov defeated Campillo, he set a division record by earning a crown in only his 10th professional fight. Australia's Jeff Harding had the previous record in June 1989, when he rose to 15-0 with his 12th knockout -- a 12th-round stoppage over Dennis Andries that earned him the WBC crown.

Prior to that, Michael Spinks held the mark, rising to 17-0 when he dethroned Eddie Mustafa Muhammad for the WBA title with a 15-round unanimous decision in July 1988.

A Las Vegas resident, Shumenov became the fourth boxer from Kazakhstan to win a professional world title, joining WBC super featherweight (130 pounds) king Anatoly Alexandrov (1990), WBC heavyweight king Oleg Maskaev (2006), and IBF cruiserweight (200 pounds) king Vassily Jirov (2001).

Shumenov was 5-0, with as many knockouts when he defeated former world champion Montell Griffin by unanimous decision in August of 2008.

FanHouse stopped by the Goossen Gym in Van Nuys, which is run by Joe Goossen, the brother of Dan Goossen, for his opinion and those of others about the Shumenov situation.

 

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Source: http://boxing.fanhouse.com/2011/01/07/beibut-shumenov-william-joppy-weigh-in/

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