Frank Buglioni Faces a Tall Order in His Rescheduled Clash with Fedor Chudinov

Frank Buglioni had a title in his grasp after winning at Wembley Arena on July 24—it just wasn’t the one he was after.

The Londoner claimed the WBA International super middleweight belt by stopping the overmatched, not to mention overweight, Fernando Castaneda in the closing seconds of the fifth round.

It was a comfortable victory for Buglioni, who now has a professional record of 17-1-1 (13 KOs).

But it can't have felt anything but anticlimactic for the winner, considering what he should have been fighting for.

The 26-year-old was scheduled to face reigning WBA champion Fedor Chudinov on the same date, but the Russian pulled out after suffering a broken nose in training, per Dan Rafael of ESPN.

So, instead of having the chance to box for a major belt, Buglioni instead found himself facing Castaneda. The late replacement came in seven pounds too heavy at the weigh-in, which was hardly surprising, considering his previous outing had been at cruiserweight.

The Mexican’s CV—he was 23-9 (14 KOs) going into the bout but had lost three of his last five—suggested it was always going to be a case of when, not if, the home favourite triumphed.

Buglioni got the job done, ending proceedings with a well-timed body shot.

But he is still a work in progress, even if he has been champion of Europe already, meaning the clash with Chudinov is a gamble that he's willing to take at this stage.

He is currently ranked by BoxRec as the seventh-best British fighter at the 168-pound limit, behind two other rising stars in the division: Rocky Fielding and Callum Smith.

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

The world title challenge has now been rescheduled for later in the year. Promoter Frank Warren took to Twitter to reveal the date:

It is pleasing to see Buglioni has not missed out on such a massive opportunity.

Chudinov, though, is going to be a tall order for Wise Guy. The 27-year-old from Bratsk, Russia, is 13-0 (10 KOs).

His last two performances suggest he will be a handful, no matter which way Buglioni goes about the job.

He registered a points win over Felix Sturm to claim the vacant WBA strap back in May, showing he can last 12 rounds in the process. He also demonstrated his power with a second-round stoppage of the previously unbeaten Ben McCulloch at the end of last year.

Buglioni, in contrast, has failed to record victories in his two biggest tests so far.

The Brit was beaten by the experienced Sergey Khomitsky in April 2014, and he fought out a hotly contested draw with former amateur rival Lee Markham earlier this year.

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

He did get back to his winning ways against Castaneda, though Scott Gilfoid of Boxing News 24 was not overly impressed: "Buglioni looked very, very robotic and mechanical against Castaneda. I couldn’t help thinking that if Buglioni was matched against a decent quality fighter, he would have been beaten."

Buglioni will have to improve on his performance against Markham, but maybe the big stage will bring out the best in him. He's hungry, has the benefit of a height advantage (he's 6′1″ while Chudinov is 5′9 ½″) and has a knockout rate of 68 percent.

He will also not lack support when he returns to Wembley Arena in September. He has developed a strong following in the capital.

Yet Chudinov’s team seem to be looking beyond him. They have already announced that their man will face the interim WBA champion, Vincent Feigenbutz, at some point this year, per Allan Fox of Boxing News 24.

Buglioni will hope to spoil his rival’s plans, though to do so, he will have to produce the best performance of his career to date.