Former Ukrainian middleweight title challenger Serhiy Derevyanchenko explained why he made the decision to change weight class and move up to the second middleweight division.
"When they started to negotiate for the fight with Jaime Munguia, their side said Jaime was moving up a category. There was a choice here - either I fight Jaime or I don't. So the decision was made to move up. There were strict conditions on their side, either you move up or you don't fight.
If I think back to the middleweight fights, I can say that I'm more comfortable at a category higher. Again, right now it's still hard to say how I'll be able to box with the really big guys. There are enough guys here that race really hard. For the most part, I think I'll be comfortable here and if you look at the tops at 168 pounds, basically all the guys here are my size. So I'm not feeling any discomfort so far.
I'm stronger here. Because before every fight I don't have to race to 160 pounds. That takes energy, too. Now I do not race a lot, so I feel stronger," - said Derevyanchenko.
Recall that Derevyanchenko will fight Christian Mbilli on August 17 in Quebec, Canada.