Massachusetts super middleweight Steven “The Savage” Sumpter (11-1-1, 9 KOs) will be fighting in Las Vegas this week as part of the festivities for the 2025 boxing event of the year, “Canelo vs. Crawford." Sumpter will be, competing on the Wednesday night show, three days before the big event, in the first of back-to-back shows at Fontainebleau Las Vegas. The Pittsfield, MA boxer will embrace the underdog role in a ten-round fight against Bek Nurmaganbet (14-0, 12 KOs). “I never dreamed I’d be fighting on a platform like this,” Sumpter admitted. “I knew it would take steps to move up, but I never thought I’d be fighting on a show in Las Vegas leading into ‘Canelo’ versus Crawford’.

 

“An impressive win will open a lot of doors for me. The whole world will know who I am, and I’ll be able to challenge the guys at the top of the light heavyweight division. It will literally change my whole life, but I never really think about that.”

 

Nurmaganbet was a celebrated amateur boxer in Kazakhstan. He was the 2018 Kazakhstan National Champion as well as the gold medal winner at the ASBC Elite Boxing Championships.

 

“I’ve been in the ring with better caliber guys than him,” Sumpter noted. “I sparred with (2-time light heavyweight world champion) Jean Pascal (37-8-1, 21 KOs, for this fight. At my (Springfield) gym, I’ve sparred Rohan Polanco and he’s a welterweight but hits like a light heavyweight. Carlos Gongora (23-3, 17 KOs) and I were Steven Butler’s (36-5-1, 30 KOs) main sparring partners for his last fight (WKO4). I know what to do.”

 

There’s always an increased risk of getting headbutted, of course, when a pair of southpaws like Nurmaganbet and Sumpter fight. Sumpter isn’t concerned at all, though. “I know he’s a 6’ 1” southpaw and a good boxer,” Sumpter added, “I’m not concerned with headbutting because we’re both southpaws. I can expose his European style. He doesn’t like mixing it up inside. He wants to stay on the outside, so I need to apply pressure and dictate the pace, not him, from the start. “

 

Sumpter is the former New England light heavyweight title holder. “I’m going in confident of doing what I do,” Sumpter concluded, “and coming out with the win.”