WBA gold super middleweight champion Fedor Chudinov (24-2-1, 16 KOs) scored a hard fought twelve round unanimous decision over Ryno Liebenberg (21-8-1, 14 KOs) on Friday at the Sibur Arena in St. Petersburg, Russia. Good two-way action for the first half of the fight. Chudinov then took over, dropping Liebenberg in round nine. The 37-year-old Liebenberg fought bravely, but Chudinov prevailed 116-111, 119-108, 118-109.
Earlier, WBA gold super flyweight champion Mikhail Aloyan (6-1, 1 KO) stopped late sub Oleksandr Hryshchuk (16-5, 6 KOs) to retain the belt in his first defense. The challenger did not come out for the ninth round.
Without looking it up, how many WBA Gold champions can you name other than Chudnikov (whom I’m sure you didn’t know before reading this article). If your answer is zero, you are tied with me. The WBA is such a damn joke.
What! You don’t know Leyman Benavides, WBA Strawweight Gold champion??!
@Lucie I must admit, I’m a fan of the sport and didn’t know that. The shame is almost too much to bear.
You and me both! Looking it up, probably the biggest name that is a WBA gold champion is Vergil Ortiz…. but who had any idea? He probably doesn’t even know he has that championship.
LMAO!! Whether Ortiz knows it or not, pretty sure he has his sights set on something bigger than the WBA Gold belt. Just a hunch.
What could be bigger than that?
Bigger than WBA Gold?? WBC DIAMOND!
Im sure theres an “interim” Gold champion out there somewhere 😉
I agree with you about the WBA. However Chudinov is actually one of the top ten Super Middleweights to be sure. back in 2016 he defeated Felix Sturm to win the WBA Super middleweight title, and then lost a controversial decision to him in Germany.
he later fought George Groves for that same vacant title. He broke Groves jaw in the third round, but then in the 6th, the British referee stopped the match. It was a very close match, and I actually felt that Chudinov was winning that match, and that it was unfairly stopped.
Ryno Liebenberg has had a good career, has the heart of a lion, but time to call it quits. Have one more farewell fight here in South Africa for your fans and call it a day on a good career.
WBA: We’ll Belt Anybody.