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Beibut Shumenov Ready To
Challenge
World Cruiserweight Champions
Combining the invaluable experience he gained as world light
heavyweight champion with a different style of boxing
introduced to him by his new head trainer, Ismael Salas,
Beibut Shumenov used his impressive cruiserweight debut Dec.
13 to prove his legitimacy as a world title contender in the
200-pound division.
Shumenov (15-2, 10 KOs), a former World Boxing Association
(WBA) light heavyweight champion and 2004 Kazakhstan
Olympian, outclassed opponent Bobby Thomas, Jr. (14-3, 9
KOs) on his way to victory by way of a fifth-round technical
knockout.
"It's much easier for me fighting at 200 pounds than 175,"
Shumenov explained. "My body couldn't take it anymore. When
I first came to America seven years ago, I planned to fight
as a heavyweight or cruiserweight because I weighed 240-245
pounds. When I moved here to Las Vegas everybody my size
were super middleweights and light heavyweights. The
decision was made then for me to fight as a light
heavyweight.
"I'm not making excuses but I lost 55 pounds for my last
fight. I saw opportunities but my body failed me. I wanted
to throw punches but my body didn't respond. I made a
decision to move up to cruiserweight and also added a great
head coach, Ismael Salas. He teaches the Cuban boxing style
and (assistant trainer) Jeff (Grmoja) uses an old-school
American style. And Rodney Crisler (team member) shares his
knowledge, too. I have a great team supporting me."
The 31-year-old Shumenov, currently the No. 2 rated
cruiserweight in the WBA, captured the WBA light heavyweight
title January 29, 2010 with a 12-round decision over Gabriel
Campillo in only his 10th professional fightto establish the
fewest-fights record for a world light heavyweight champion.
Five successful title defenses followed but the muscular
Shumenov had more and more problems making weight, in
addition to being self-trained in his last three fights
prior to last Saturday's in Las Vegas.
Equally important as moving up in weight to avoid sapping
his strength was adding Salas to his corner. Salas came to
the United States 25 years ago and he has trained the likes
of Guillermo Rigondeaux, Yuriokis Gamboa, Danny Green, Jesse
Vargas and Jorge Linares.
The Cuban boxing style Salas teaches is similar to what
Shumenov learned in Kazakhstan developing through its then
Soviet Union boxing program. Positive chemistry between the
two was immediate and early dividends were evident in
Shumenov's fight against Thomas.
"Most importantly," Shumenov noted, "I followed the
instructions of my coach in this fight. For us, it wasn't
important to knockout my opponent in the first round. This
fight was a test for my new style in a real fight. I used my
new tools - footwork and more angles to punch. My body
listened this fight and it did everything my head wanted to
be done. I'm still in the learning process, though."
"I'm very happy that Beibut was so comfortable and that he
stuck to the game plan from the first round until the end,"
Salas commented after the fight. "Every fight is a learning
experience. We liked what we saw during the fight; Beibut
did everything I asked of him."
Grmoja has worked with Shumenov for several years
and he was amazed at how well Shumenov and Salas clicked in
such a relatively short training period. "They only had 78
days working together," Grmoja added. "Beibut completely
changed his style and during the fight he didn't go back to
fighting the old way like so many guys do. He didn't fight
off balance, throw wild punches, or keep his head up and his
hands down. He will win the world cruiserweight title in
2015 to become a two-division world champion."
The reigning world cruiserweight champions are WBA Denis
Lebedev (Russia), IBF Yoan Pablo Hernandez (Germany), WBC
Krzysztof Wlodarczyr and WBO Marco Huck (Germany).
"My power is stronger at cruiserweight because there's no
stress on my body to make weight like there was at light
heavyweight," Shumenov concluded. "Hopefully, I will get an
opportunity early next year to fight for a world title. I'm
ready! If not, I want to stay busy until my adviser, Al
Haymon, gets me a world cruiserweight title shot."
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