Phil D. Jay
WBN Editor
WBN Editor
Panamanian reverts to old habits
Fight-shy Guillermo Jones is no longer the WBA cruiserweight
champion after a meagre two defences in four years as title holder. Scheduled
opponent Denis Lebedev now picks up the belt after the Panamanian attempted to
stall their proposed December 17 contest.
Lebedev, 33, has held the interim title for almost a year
since defeating James Toney and promoter Vlad Hrunov decided to lobby the WBA
after Jones made his predictable move to shift the fight a second time.
"It's just happened," Hrunov told Ria Nostovoi. "I presented my
arguments" to the congress in favor of awarding Lebedev the title, he
said.
The bout was originally pencilled in to take place in
October, before the December date was then agreed and reversed, and any attempts by Jones’ promoter
Don King to salvage the contest have now seemingly failed.
40 year-old Jones had pulled out or postponed five title defences in his reign and has now paid the penalty, which really should have been handed out after it took him two years to make a first defence in 2010.