EUROPEAN BOXING NEWS
Posted on | October 8, 2007 | 4 Comments
It´s official: WBO lightheavy champ Zsolt Erdei defends the title November 24 in Dresden. Opponent isn´t announced yet. It´s not officially announced yet by Universum but the EBU have had Thomas Ulrich defending the 175 lb title against Yuri Barashian up for weeks on this date. Supermiddle Karoly Balzsay and superbantam Zsolt Bedak, like Erdei from Hungary, are also likely to fight on the bill. Universum and Spotlight Boxing thus have November pretty well covered with shows November 13, 17, 24, and 30.
Hennessy Sports have now set Carl Froch´s defence of the British supermiddle title against Robin Reid for November 9 in Nottingham. Froch is hot on the trail for the winner of Kessler vs Calzaghe that takes place November 3 in Cardiff.
New Danish promoter Robert Larsen will now get TV backing for his inaugural show in Copenhagen topped by featherweight Robert Osiobe. It´s Danish network DK 4 who will televise part of Larsen´s pro/am show. Larsen have already announced a second show for November 24 with Gilleleje as the likely site. DK 4 used to televise Team Palle´s show but have declared to Danish media they are through with televising Palle shows after a number of differences, apparently mainly stemming from the big shows involving Mikkel Kessler and if they should be on PPV or not. DK 4 have however made it clear they are not paying Larsen anything near to what they paid Palle. The network have recently – after being under financial pressure – changed ownership and the new owners have declared they are out of any old contracts. The could be heading for the courts.
Talented lightheavy Magomed Aripgadzhiev, a/k/a Mahamed Ali, goes for the CIS and Slovanic title against Artyom Vychkin on the undercard to Romanov vs Zoff October 16 in Minsk.
Polish middle Grzegorz Proksa, reigning WBC and IBF Youth champ, take on used up Austrian Gotthard Hinteregger October 12 in Peterlee, UK. On the same show Hungarian Joszef Matolcsi will try to regain the WBF jr middle against Marcus Portman.
Ex-EBU cruiser champ Alexander Gourov fights November 16 in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Also on the bill is Croatian jr middle Ante Bilic.
Panamanian lightheavy Tito Mendoza have been in full training to face WBA ruler Stipe Drews in Germany this fall but as Drews reportedly is injured. laprensa.com writes that Tito now will be the opponent for WBO champ Zsolt Erdei, who defends the title November 24 in Dresden. Mendoza is not rated by the WBO but that is a problem that is normally easily solved.
Sauerland Event have signed up Swiss heavyweight Nikola Vujasinovic, a four-time national champ at superheavy. Nikola lost to Alexander Povetkin in the European championships in 2004. Vujasinovic makes his prodebut December 8 on a Sauerland show that according to swissboxing.ch will go ahead in either Basle or Berlin and with IBF middle champ Arthur Abraham headlining.
Russian Timur Shaylezov, who recently lost the NABA bantam title, moves down to superfly and face Panamanian Ricardo Molina October 25 in Ekaterinburg.
Serbian jr middle Nikola Stevanovic won the IBF Youth title October 5 in Belgrade with a ten round unanimous points win over Frenchman Cedric Charlier.
Swedish Shadow Pro Box will stage a dinner show at the Garden nightclub in Gothenburg, headlined by heavyweight Johan Thorbjornsson.
In Madrid lightheavy Alejandro Lakatus, who gave then WBO king Dariusz Michalczewski a very tough fight back in 2001 and also fought Hugo Garay and Zsolt Erdei, returned after two years out and stopped Romanian Pavel Virgil in the first.
Frantisek Kasanic won the IBC I/C cruiser title with a seventh round knockout over Hungarian Ruben Oliver on a show in Nove Zamky, Slovakia, October 5.
Unbeaten Swiss welter Riad Menasria will return to action after a brief layoff. Menasria was earlier this year offered a chance at current EBU welter champ Jackson Osei Bonsu but fell out due to a dispute over money and dropped out for awhile.
WBO I/C heavy champ Aleksander Dimitrenko defends against German veteran Timo Hoffmann November 17 on a Universum Box Promotion at the Boerdeland Arena in Magdeburg. WIBF feather queen Ina Menzer co-headlines.
Cuban stars Yuriorkis Gamboa, based in Germany with Arena, and Yan Barthelemy, based in Florida but also with Arena, will make their US debuts October 30 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, on the undercard to a show headlined by Edison Miranda.
OPI 2000 have postponed Andrea Sarritzu´s defence of the EBU flyweight title that was set for October 12 against Spaniard Rafael Lozano. A new date will be announced within shortly.
Zauerbek Baysangurov defends the EBU 154 lb title November 17 in Kiev against Roman Dzuman, who comes off a controversial draw against Ivan Gontsa for the EE-EU belt.
Finnish Steel Ring promotes in Yliharma November 2 with heavyweight Juha Haapoja on top of a pro/am bill. Haapoja is then expected to fight Sami Elovaara in December with the national title at stake.
EBU welter king Jackson Osei Bonsu is said to be in great shape for his upcoming defence against Frenchman Nordine Mouchi October 27 in Mazures, France. Sparring is as always difficult to find for the very hardpunching Belgian.
Looks like Italian veteran Michele Piccirillo will get a crack at WBC jr middle champ Vernon Forrest December 1 in the US.
Danish media reports that WBA and WBC supermiddle champ Mikkel Kessler is sidelined with a cold and this far haven´t sparred with Brian Magee, who arrived in Copenhagen this past weekend. Kessler is expected to be back in full training in a few days though and the fight against Joe Calzaghe November 3 shouldn´t be affected. Magee is in Denmark until October 14.
The Swedish Boxing Federation have received a general permission from the Martial Arts Delegation to give permission to promoters to stage shows. Previously a promoter applied to the Federation, got permission but then the promoter had to apply to MAD as well. The rules however are unchanged: fights can last a maximum of 12 minutes and ten ounce gloves used in all weigh divisions. The general permission last through December of 2008. This means less paperwork for all involved but if professional boxing can endure at least another year with the current rules and survive is an open question.