On December 21, 2019, a 40-year-old Denis Lebedev (32-2, 23 KOs) and a 31-year-old South African boxer Thabiso Mchunu (21-5, 13 KOs) met in the ring in a cruiserweight bout.
Lebedev came in to the fight on a 3-fight win streak with a 67% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 1 year and 27 days. Mchunu was on a 2-fight win streak with a 50% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 2 months and 1 day.
Thabiso Mchunu defeated Denis Lebedev via unanimous decision in the 12-round cruiserweight fight. Mchunu improves his record to 22-5, while Lebedev adds a loss to his record at 32-3.
On December 3, 2016, the 37-year-old IBF cruiserweight world champion, Denis Lebedev (29-1, 22 KOs), faced a 23-year-old fellow Russian boxer Murat Gassiev (23-0, 17 KOs), in a title defense fight.
Lebedev came in to the fight on a 8-fight win streak with a 73% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 6 months and 12 days. Gassiev was on a 23-fight win streak with a 73% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 6 months and 16 days.
Murat Gassiev defeated Denis Lebedev via split decision and wins the IBF title — in his first world-title fight. Gassiev improves his record to 24-0, while Lebedev adds a loss to his record at 29-2.
On December 18, 2010, a 31-year-old Denis Lebedev (21-0, 16 KOs) got a shot at the cruiserweight WBO title held by 26-year-old German boxer Marco Huck (30-1, 23 KOs).
Lebedev came in to the fight on a 21-fight win streak with a 76% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 5 months and 1 day. Huck was on a 11-fight win streak with a 74% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 3 months and 27 days.
Marco Huck defeated Denis Lebedev via split decision and successfully defended his WBO cruiserweight title. Huck improves his record to 31-1, while Lebedev adds a loss to his record at 21-1.