After the anticlimactic boxing event of May 2nd, it left us to wonder where excitement had gone in the sport. It is made a lot easier to look forward to Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin's 14th consecutive WBA middleweight title defense on May 16.

However, this brings up an interesting thought, when did this Eastern Bloc boxing power-surge begin? While there has been no shortage of fighters from Eastern Europe achieving championship success on the world stage in the past, like Kostya Tszyu and the Klitschko brothers, American fans have had little chance to embrace them.

More recently in the past three years there has been a large influx from this area and they have dominated their respective divisions, largely thanks to HBO who decided fighters from these ethnicities would become crowd favorites even among the widespread Hispanic and American crowds and indeed these fighters have punched their way into the hearts of fans around the world.

This dominance isn’t confined to just the larger weight divisions either, at featherweight there is amateur standout and WBO champion, Vasyl Lomachenko who just defended his belt on the Mayweather - Pacquiao under card. Lomachenko fought for a world title in just his second pro bout but was beaten by rough veteran Orlando Salido. Salido came into that fight overweight and by the second half of the fight Lomachenko had figured his opponent out, almost knocking him out in round 12. Having very little professional experience has not stopped Lomachenko becoming a dominant force in his division and the Ukrainian won a world title in just his third bout.

Also in this division is Evgeny Gradovich, an undefeated fighter from Russia who holds the IBF belt and is nicknamed 'The Mexican Russian' for his action-packed style of fighting. He is slowly getting more exposure on American television and it will only get better for the always exciting Gradovich. 

The super lightweight division is home to one of the true warriors in boxing, the 'Siberian Rocky' Ruslan Provodnikov who is a former champion and most recently took part in what is now the front runner for fight of the year, a slugfest against Argentine Lucas Mathysse. Provodnikov, a staple for action fights on HBO, has been one to never back down from a challenge and has given very strong showings against the likes of Timothy Bradley and Mike Alvarado.

Viktor Postol, native of Ukraine, is also in the same division and has shown promising signs of becoming a rising superstar. Already he has secured his place as mandatory challenger for the top champion in the division Danny Garcia. Postol has been an avoided fighter because of his dangerous punching power and he will soon have a chance to further demonstrate his skills in the big markets of America. 

In the middleweight division, it is hard to see anyone other than Kazakhstan native, Gennady Golovkin, as the top-dog. Riding a 19 consecutive knockout streak, he is the most feared fighter in the sport and very few dare to step in the ring with him. Golovkin, who is undefeated, will defend his middleweight crown on May 16th against Willie Monroe Jr on what will be a very good card on HBO. He holds many belts in his division and is currently the mandatory challenger for 'lineal' champ Miguel Cotto. He is already in the top five of most pound for pound lists and seems to be the most likely contender to take over Floyd Mayweather's #1 ranking once he retires. 'GGG" is already rumored to be fighting Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto in the future so it is only time before the whole world knows about Golovkin and his 'Big Drama Show'.

The newest champion from Eastern Europe is Fedor Chudinov, who beat 4-time champion Felix Sturm on May 9th to win the WBA super-middleweight belt that was stripped from Carl Froch. It is very interesting to see if Chudinov will gain any exposure from overseas as he has never fought on American television before. The undefeated fighter is only 27 years old and seems to have a long road of domination ahead of him. 

In the light-heavyweight division there’s very little doubt that undefeated knockout artist Sergey Kovalev is a force to be reckoned with. Already a top pound for pound star, the Russian appears to be rising up the rankings after each fight. He is already owner of three of the four major belts in the sport and has easily disposed of fighters like Jean Pascal and the legendary Bernard Hopkins. The only man left standing in the division is 'lineal' champion Adonis Stevenson and he is the last roadblock before 'Krusher' can be called the undisputed champion of the world. 

Also in the light-heavyweight division is Artur Beterbiev who is a rising superstar and looks to be following in the footsteps of Golovkin and Kovalev in that he has tremendous knockout power. He easily disposed of former champion Gabriel Campillo earlier this year on national television and he looks like he will be a mandatory challenger for Kovalev's belts in the not so distant future. That one will be a real slugfest that any true boxing fan will not want to miss.

Wladimir Klitschko has been one of the most dominant champions in the history of the heavyweight division. Klitschko first became champion in 2000 and battled through some tough opponents and a weak chin in his early years but once he got under the wing of late, great trainer Emmanuel Steward he became an unstoppable force. The Ukrainian has now defended his WBA / WBO / IBF titles 18 consecutive times that date back to 2006 when his current title reign began. No one has even come close to beating Klitschko in over a decade and the 39 year old doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.

The former Soviet Union has been churning out high quality fighters as of late, and we don't want them to stop coming because they have truly revitalized the sport with a lot of excitement and dominance in some of the sport's most prestigious divisions. The times are changing and the boxing world could not be happier. 

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About the author
Carlos Sucre Jr
Professional Boxing Judge, Venezuelan living in South Florida. Currently at school in Tallahassee. Die hard Boston sports fan.