By: Ste Rowen
Forever swinging, forever searching. Living the life that most boxing fans dream of having if they were a boxer. On Sunday, the bearded brute, Dmitry Kudryashov hit the canvas, rose like a drunken phoenix but still couldn’t find a route to victory. However, it doesn’t matter, not really.
He won’t like losing, he’s probably re-watching the bout now and trying to analyse where he went wrong but the fact is, fans don’t care. Those of us that love action, blood, and a warning sign for kids before watching, Dmitry is the king. The prince that was promised shouldn’t care about his third loss or that it was yet another knockout defeat.
On Sunday, up against the former WBC cruiserweight challenger, Ilunga Makabu, Kudryashov was outclassed in every aspect, but relentlessness. The southpaw from the Congo marked his territory early, constantly rocking the Russian in Ekaterinburg, Dmitry’s home territory and when he dropped Kudryashov in round two, the African would’ve been ready to end the fight there. But that’s not how it works with Dmitry. If you hit him hard, make it stick, ala Durodola and Dorticos. And even in his first fight with Olanrewaju Durodola, Dmitry was still standing as the referee stepped in, much like this weekend.
The ‘Russian Hammer’ was born in Volgodonsk. A city just about in Russia, and Kudryashov is just about in the mix with the best cruiserweights. At this point, with no world title, he’s probably what most trainers would view as an unneeded risk. But if you beat him, like Makabu did on Sunday, you put the rest of the division on notice.
Whether he continues or not – ‘please, Lord make sure he continues.’ –
Kudryashov will always be watched. He’s the cruiserweight Gatti looking for his Ward. There would be no disappointment from this writer if the winner of Dorticos vs. Briedis (the WBSS2 final) were to announce that their next bout was against Dmitry.
Look up ‘beautiful brutality’ in the boxing dictionary and there’ll be a bloody nosed picture of the Russian, almost definitely widely swinging in any direction. God gave Dmitry the power, to make up for his lack of chin.
He’s exactly what people want to see. No matter how many times you hear people feign concern when a fighter is knocked out and lying on the canvas, the fact is, that’s exactly why we turn up, tune in and get excited.
Kudryashov is not going the distance, he’s never going to be recognised as the G.O.A.T. but by God, that crazy mother Russian is gonna go down swinging to prove he is.
