By Bob Caico
An interesting heavyweight bout was added to the already stacked world championship double-header this Saturday at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
#7 WBA, #11 IBF and #15 WBC rated heavyweight Sergey Kuzmin (14-0, 11 KOs) of Russia takes on Philly’s Joey Dawejko (19-6-4, 11 KOs). Kuzmin went 3-0 with three stoppages in 2018 while Dawejko went 0-2 in 2018. This will be the first bout in 2019 for both fighters.
For the fans, the Kuzmin-Dawejko matchup has the potential to be a barn-burner.
Kuzmin sees the showdown as a stepping-stone to a world title contest, while Dawejko looks to reenergize his place in the heavyweight division.
“I want to have as many fights as I can in 2019,” Dawejko explained to FightNews. “Starting off with Kuzmin. That will be a big win for me. And I move on from there.”
Dawejko’s two fights in 2018 were against world-class competition and he feels these fights could have gone his way.
“Jennings was a ranked guy, and so was Fedesov. The Jennings fight was pretty close even though the judges didn’t see it that way. The Fedesov fight was in Russia. I needed a knockout to get a draw over there. It was a tough competitive fight.”
Dawejko and Kuzmin are familiar with each other as they both trained at the Wild Card Gym a few years back. A 2017 encounter was in the works nevertheless the clash fell through.
Dawejko feels he has learned how to defeat Kuzmin: “He is not a stranger to me. He’s big and tall. Good puncher. But he’s never fought anyone like me. And hey, I’ve seen his style before!”
Kuzmin is at a point that a win propels him into title conversation whereas on the other side of the ropes, Dawejko just wants an opportunity to prove himself.
“This is the biggest and most important fight of my career! Like I said, it will be a great win for me!”
The Kuzmin-Dawejko bout will be streamed live on DAZN in the US and on Sky Sports in the UK.