EUROPEAN BOXING NEWS

Posted on | October 13, 2008 | No Comments

Russian jr welter Dennis Shafikov, 16-0, face former WBA lightweight champ Raul Balbi from Argentina in a non-title ten-rounder on P 3 Boxing´s big show at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki November 28 in what should be an interesting fight. Headlining the bill is “Idi” Amin Asikainen against Khoren Gevor for the vacant EBU title. Heavies Sami Elovaara and Juho Haapoja clash for the national crown. Also on the bill are jr welter prospects Ville Piispanen and Edis Tatli.

Juan Carlos Gomez calls out for Vitali Klitschko in no uncertain terms in a press release from Arena Box Promotion. Gomez was as he says already an established star by the time Vitali and his brother Wladimir arrived to Universum in Hamburg where also Arena boss Ahmet Oener plugged away as a pro with the Klitschko´s current personal manager Bernd Boente later joining Universum as press spokesman. Today Vitali is back on top as WBC champ with Juan Carlos, a former WBC cruiser champ, as mandatory challenger. Gomez should be too small for the big heavyweights but can fight at level we don´t see many heavies of today do – just check Samuel Peter´s performance against Vitali. Klitschko looked indeed good but the Nigerian Nightmare was right there for him.

French supermiddle veteran Pierre Moreno face local hero Nikola Sjekloca October 18 in Budva, Montenegro, with WBC´s Mediterranean at stake. French amateur star Jerome Thomas won´t as previously was planned participate in the World Military championships. Instead he will make his pro debut November 20 in St Quentin.

It looks like the Swedish Federation will go for it and apply to the Martial Arts Delegation for international standards in professional boxing. As it is now we´re stuck with a max distance of 12 minutes to be divided in either four threes or six twos. This is fine for beginners but just don´t work for seasoned pros.

Spotlight Boxing have today announced a big show in Halle an der Saale December 5 with Sergey Gulyakevich vs Vitali Tajbert (for the EBU jr light title), WBA and WIBF fly queen Susi Kentikian, middle Sebastian Zbik and heavyweight Sebastian Koeber headlining.