Brewster, Lyakhovich to collide in Cleveland tomorrow night!

on a SHOWTIME FREE PREVIEW WEEKEND!


Tomorrow night, in Cleveland, OH, WBO Heavyweight Champion Lamon Brewster (33-2, 29 KOs) will defend his title against Sergei Lyakovich (22-1, 14 KOs). Brewster won the title on April 10, 2004 with a stunning upset KO win of Wladimir Klitschko. Since then, he has made three title defenses against the likes of Kali Meehan, Andrew Golota, and Luan Krasniqi.

Brewster, the dark horse of the champions and title contenders, will try solidify his claim as the top dog at heavyweight tomorrow night against Lyakovich. After Hasim Rahman and James Toney fought to a disputed draw two weeks ago, there appears to be more questions than answers as to the state of boxing's biggest weight class.

Unification must take place in order to have legitimate clarification as to who the real heavyweight champion is in boxing. In order for Brewster to maintain his race for heavyweight supremacy amongst the rest of his fellow titleholders, he must focus carefully on the task at hand tomorro night.

This spectator has not seen much of Lyakovich, outside of his unanimous decision win over Friday Ahunanya, on the undercard of Rahman/Lewis II, in November 2001. He went on to lose via 9th round KO at the hands of the Maurice Harris in a non televised bout in June of 2002 on the undercard of Holyfield/Rahman in Atlantic City. Lyakovich also fought to a draw with fringe heavyweight contender Dominick Guinn.

Brewster possesses better than average handspeed, as well as volatile punching power, for a heavyweight boxer. He annihilated Andrew Golota in less than a round in May of last year in Chicago, something only Lennox Lewis was previously able to accomplish. IBF Champion Chris Byrd struggled to a controversial draw with Golota in April of 2004 and then-WBA Champion John Ruiz squeaked out a narrow and unconvincing unanimous decision over Golota in November of 2004.

My prediction: Brewster via mid to late round KO.

The bout, promoted by Don King Productions will be televised live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING on Saturday, April 1. The telecast will begin at 11pm ET. This is a free preview weekend for SHOWTIME, so the telecast is available to all viewers.