36-year-old former two-time middleweight title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-4, 10 KOs) showed off his skills at a media workout in Brooklyn Wednesday.
After dropping four of his last five fights, the once highly regarded pressure fighter faces Joshua Conley in a 10-round off-TV undercard bout on July 30 from Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The bout may be streamed on Showtime’s social media channels, but no official announcement yet.
“I want to fight any of the champions at middleweight,” said Derevyanchenko. Jaime Munguia would be a great fight. There are a lot of strong fighters in the division and I want to face any of them. I still feel strong at middleweight. I’m going to keep working and facing the best challengers I can get so that I’m back in title contention.
“I feel strong physically. I still have the desire mentally and my body is still responding and able to perform. That’s all I can ask for. Everyone will see my improvements on fight night. I’m facing an opponent who can jab and move. He’s not going to be very busy in there, but I know that I have to be ready for his counters.”
Only 17 fights but lots of wear and tear.
The problem with these Eastern European fighters is that they start their pro careers so late. Outside of GGG and The Klitchko’s, they seem to fizzle out rather quickly. Sergiy’s just a stepping stone at this point, too many wars.
Derevyanchenko has been thrown in against top fighters and even exposed them. His management must be careful and not let him become a middleweight Chisora.