Prediction,

I think Hunter is one of the most, if not the most underrated boxers, he lost to Usyk in 2017, but he won a few rounds, went 12, and since then, he has been very impressive, he's a small heavyweight, but he won his last 3 fights by stoppage, was ahead against Ilunga, stopped him, was very dominant against Ustinov, stopped him as well, and in his last fight, he stopped Fabio Maldonado in 2, Maldonado went the 10 round distance against Rivas.

Kuzmin is not bad, unbeaten, was a good amateur, didn't really impress against David Price, but he got the win. I think this will be Hunter's toughest fight at heavyweight so far, I don't know if Kuzmin is better than Bakole, but he is more experienced, and Bakole was injured against Hunter. I don't think Kuzmin is world level.

I think Hunter is a level above Kuzmin, Kuzmin might just about be top 20, but Hunter is easily top 10, may be top 5. On paper this looks like a 50/50 fight, one is undefeated, the other only lost to an undisputed champion, both have a good amateur background, Kuzmin had a couple of WSB fights, but Hunter is a more experienced professional, had a few more fights, been 12 rounds, been in against Usyk, he's been much more dominant than Kuzmin, Kuzmin was not ahead against Price when the fight was stopped, a win is a win, but Price had an arm injury, and in his last fight, he beat Joey Dawejko, but it was an MD, a lot closer than Jennings's win over Dawejko.

Both fighters were good amateurs. Hunter beat Andy Ruiz an an amateur, Oscar Rivas, fought Roberto Cammarelle, Artur Beterbiev, was an Olympian. Kuzmin stopped Joe Joyce in one round as an amateur, beat Roberto Cammarelle, had well over 200 bouts. I think Kuzmin was an even better amateur than Hunter, but he does not seem to have adapted to the professionals, anywhere near as well as Hunter.

I think Hunter will win most the rounds by out working Kuzmin, but will also have a lot more variety, will attack head and body, will be more mobile, Kuzmin will be too one dimensional, won't be able to get any momentum, will be easy to hit.

Kuzmin can punch, he is much bigger than Hunter, is very strong, so it will be interesting to see how Hunter takes it if he gets caught clean. If Kuzmin has Hunter hurt, he will be very dangerous, will probably do a good job of capitalising, he has slow feet, but will know how to cut off the ring, will be consistent, not let Hunter get respite, because he is well schooled even if he isn't versatile, Kuzmin.

I think this will be fairly similar to Whyte vs Rivas, but more one sided, Kuzmin probably hits as hard if not harder than Rivas, might be as strong, but is defensively worse, slower, might not have the gas tank, and I think Hunter is better than Whyte, is more skilful.

I think Hunter wins a UD, 117-111, 118-110, the second half will be closer than the first half, and the fight will be fairly competitive overall, but it will be one sided.

Great performance from Hunter, Kuzmin tried his best, but he just wasn't good enough, no shame in that. This was what I expected from both fighters, but Hunter did well to knock Kuzmin down like that, used the right upppercut to set up the left hook to the chin, like Joshua did against Ruiz when he dropped him, but Hunter didn't get careless, and apart from that bad finish to round 8, he boxed well for the whole fight, was at a size and strength disadvantage, but his movement, output, skills, too much for Kuzmin, Kuzmin hurt Hunter in round 8, when Hunter got complacent, but he couldn't build on it in the following rounds.

I think Hunter is a top 5 heavyweight.