The Martial Arts Delegation wasn´t unified in their decision and Pugnus Promotions didn´t get all they wanted but they got enough and can rightfully promote their show in Karlstad September 24 as an historical event ith two fights over six three minute rounds on top of the bill - the first professional boxing matches in Sweden since 1969 over more than 12 minutes. Pugnus had applied for jr middles Allan Vester vs Cliff Soukka to be over 8x3 but MAD said no and it will now go ahead over 6x3. Also on its a heavyweight clash between Claus Bertino and Andreas Gustavsson over 6x3. Ten ounce gloves, the "knockout safe" amateur gloves are still to be worn in all weight divisions.
WBO lightheavy champ Juergen Braehmer will reportedly defend the title against Librado Andrade December 18 in Montreal. Personally I doubt Universum will risk the still very good but somewhat worn champ against the teak tough Andrade. There could also be difficulties for Braehmer to cross the pond due to his legal problems.
WBO supermiddle king Robert Stieglitz will reportedly defend the title October 15 against Enrquie Ornelas at a site to be announced.
Trainer Poul Duvill have in Danish media adviced comebacking heavy Brian Nielsen to remain retired. According Duvill Nielsen´s bad knees cause him so much trouble that he is unable to move properly. Nielsen acknowledges that there are problems but hopes surgery and rehab training will be the cure and feels he can be ready to fight Evander Holyfield or someone else in February or March of next year.
8 M Promotions in Germany promotes a show in Bitterfeld September 11 featuring heavyweights Steffen Kretschmann and Konstantin Airich on top. Both fighters were previously with Arena. Also on the bill is hardpunching lightheavy Robert "the Butcher" Woge - something as unusual as a German all out slugger.
Former EBU welter champ Emilio Marconi have passed away in Grosseto, Italy, at the age of 82. Marconi won the EBU crown in 56 but and defended it with a draw against Peter Waterman in 57 but lost the rematch in 58. Emilio Marconi was around in a great era for Italian and European boxing and shared the ring with many topnotchers such as Bruno Visintin, Duilio Loi, Jorgen Johansen, Waterman and Ray Famechon.
IBF welter champ Jan Zaveck closed out sparring Thursday last week and is according to a press release from SES in top shape for his defence on Saturday in Ljubljana against Pole Rafael Jackiewicz. The fight is billed as "A Question of Honor" and refers to their first fight, won by Jackiewicz on a controversial decision. Zaveck kept looking for the rematch for a long time and claimed Rafael avoided him - but with the world title in his hands the rematch materialized. The show goes ahead at the 14 000-seater Park Sport Arena with live TV in Slovenia, Poland and Germany.
Finn Amin Asikainen will now take on hardpunching Mexican Jaudiel Zepeda September 4 in Helsinki. Zepeda replace Francisco Mora, who had problems making the contracted weight. Asikainen, now at supermiddle and with only three kilos to lose compared with eight he had to get rid of to make middleweight, is reported to look good in sparring.
Russian heavyweight, one of the best jiourneymen in Europe, Daniel Peret headlines a show at home in Murmansk September 25. Peret have over the years fought´em all. Daniel is for now based in Kirkenes in the very north of Norway where he works in a fish factory and accepts all calls for fights on the road. On the same show in Murmansk in the nominal headliner cruiser Ali Ismailov defends the PABA title against Hungarian Joszef Nagy.
What went wrong for Universum? Tradepaper BoxSport have a couple of experts look into the subject and one point to shortlived success for female boxing when Regina Halmich was around, another to Universum´s support for Juergen Braehmer despite his legal problems while a third feels Universum had more quantity than quality in the their huge stable and a fourth feels Universum needed to take more risks in the matchmaking to get more even and interesting matchups. In my eyes the collaboration with ZDF was largely successful but the network have followed a bad trend in continental Europe and left boxing behind.
Arena Box Promotion have signed up heavyweight Erkan Teiper, and he makes his prodebut on the Sturm vs Lorenzo show September 4 in Cologne. Teiper have a decent amateur career in Germany but no major international titles.
August 21, Erfurt, Germany:
WBO cruiser cxhamp Marco Huck had it easier than expected with American Matt Godfrey in the headliner of Sauerland´s show at the Messhall. Huck looked crude, missed with a lot of punches but was much too strong for Godfrey, who caved in under the relentless pressure. Godrey was down in the second and floored twice in the fifth before it was stopped at 2.18.
Huck´s next fight will be the opening fight in a Super Six cruiser tournament and will take place December 4 or December 18 but against who isn´t clear yet.
The other participants in the tournament appears to be IBF ruler Steve Cunningham, WBC champ Krzystof Wlodarczyk (who of course must beat Jason Robinson September 25), Russian Denis Lebedev and perhaps Yoan Pablo Hernandez. A sixth name will be announced and promoter Wilfried Sauerland hinted at a fourth champion joining the tournament.
The Nordic Nightmare, Robert Helenius won the vacant EU heavyweight title in style stopping Frenchman Gregory Tony 39 seconds into the sixth round. Tony was floored in the third, fourth and fifth and staggered early in the sixth before it was stopped. Next up is a voluntary defence with a shot at the EBU title coming inside the next 12 months. Robert looks a bit slow and pedestrian but is explosive and have a powerful right hand.
Middleweight Dominik Britsch outscored Italian Lorenzo Cosseddu over eight but injured his left hand and failed to impress. Cosseddu made the fight and came close but Britsch was just a little too sharp for him.
Lightheavy Dustin Dirks knocked out Finn Sami Selesma with a good left hook in the second round.
News: Former WBA heavy champ Nikolai Valuev was ringside but will undergo surgery for a shoulder injury next week.
Alexander Povetkin was according to his manager Vlad Hrunov and Sauerland´s CEO Chris Meyer not, repeat not, pulled out of the fight against Wladimir Klitschko by Teddy Atlas. -The true story is that Alexander´s father passed away in April and there were lots of problem to solve and he just didn´t train and that led to the decision not to take the fight, said Meyer, who called Atlas´ statements "very unprofessional". Hrunov downplayed the situation and said that Povetkin and Atlas was very close but acknowledged that it was due to the trainer´s statements that the IBF had dropped Povetkin from the ratings. -We are now discussing how to rebuild Alexander and will continue to do so in the week, said Meyer.
P 3 Boxing in Finland stage its first show of the season September 4 in Helsinki, Headlining is former EBU middle champ Amin Asikainen, who take on Argentinian veteran Francisco Antonio Mora. Asikainen, 27-3, is campagning at supermiddle and is at a stage in his career where he can´t afford any slipups. In other action Russian jr welter Denis Shafikov take on Swedish-based Tanzanian Peter Semo and Edis Tatli, also at jr welter face Spanish veteran Rudy Encarnacion.
IBF I/C middle champ Benjamin Simon, 18-1, will be in the chief support to Felix Sturm vs Giovanni Lorenzo September 4 in Cologne. The WBA super champ have been out of the ring for a over year and invested a lot of money in reconstructing an old gym and to buy his way out of the contract with Universum. When the promised the deal with network RTL didn´t come through Sturm was offered - and accepted - a deal with Arena Box Promotion and Sat 1.
It will be Belgian veteran Ismail Abdoul that take on Sauerland´s Bosnian cruiser Enad Licina on Saturday in Erfurt. Licina lost last time out to stablemate Yoan Pablo Hernandez in an internal eliminator.
Sauerland´s deal with Danish network TV 2 doesn´t bring in much money but it does keep rivals - primarly Anders Vester - on the Danish market away from a similar deal. Sauerland have a steady base in Herning and will promote the next TV 2 event November 20. During 2011 there will another five shows, February 12, April 2, May 21, September 3 and October 29. The financially much more expensive - and sportingly attractive - Kessler vs Green Super Six fight September 25 will be televised live via pay per view on Viasat. The November 20 show will be headlined by middleweight Patrick Nielsen and lightweight Kim Poulsen.
IBF middleweight champ Sebastian Sylvester will according to Bild defend the title October 30 in Rostock. Possible opponent, again according to Bild, could be Mahir Oral, who last year gave Arthur Abraham a tough fight before getting stopped.
Gennadyi Golovkin, WBA # 1, vs Milton A Nunez, WBA # 13, goes ahead on Saturday in Panama for the WBA interim middleweight title. The winner will then according to some sources have to fight Frenchman Hassan N´Dam J´Kam, WBA # 2, inside 90 days. It deserves to be noticed that the WBA "regular" title is vacant with superchamp Felix Sturm taking on WBA # 7 Giovanni Lorenzo September 4 in Cologne.
K 2 Ukraine stage their first show of the new season September 4 in Dnipropetrovsk. Headlining is middleweight Maksim Bursak defending the WBO I/C title.
K 2 Ukraine´s big heavyweight Alexander Ustinov will be back in action October 16 on a show planned for Hamburg with WBC heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko defending the title with Shannon Briggs as the rumored opponent.
Swedish lightweight Shadi Hamsho, 10-0, take on Latvian Konstantin Samara on his self-promoted show in Malmoe September 10. The undercard features supermiddle prospect Badou Jack.
German (of Italian descent) heavy Francesco Pianeta, 20-0-1, is on his way back after a battle with skin cancer. Francesco, then reigning EU champ, last fought in December of last year and was in full training in February for the next fight when he discovered something wasn´t right and was quickly diagnosed with cancer. After surgery and other treatments he is now in rehab training but on his way to full recovery. Pianeta is expected to return to the ring in October.
Lightheavy Denis Simcic. an inflated 23-1, fight in the chief support to Zaveck vs Jackiewicz September 4 in Ljubljana. Simcic is like Zaveck from Slovenia but have been fighting out of Germany since turning pro in 2003. He´s now, as Zaveck, signed to SES.
Sauerland Event´s big show in Erfurt August 21 is shaping up as a Nordic boxing night as well with one Finnish-Swedish fighter, two Finns and one Dane on the bill.
First and foremost heavyweight prospect Robert Helenius take on Gregory Tony for the vacant EU title. On the undercard middleweight veteran Kai Kauramaki will face Marcos Nader while lightheavy Sami Selesma is in against Dustin Dirks. The two Finns are up against it but comes in as live opponents and not as cannon fodder. Both fights are scheduled for eight.
Helenius, 14-0, vs Tony, 12-0, feature two unbeaten fighters but Robert have already been in against the likes of Taras Bidenko and Lamon Brewster, stopping both, while Gregory is still active as a Muay Thai fighter and at a higher level it seldom works with traditional boxing.
Finally, Danish middle Patrick Nielsen, like Helenius signed to Sauerland, face Hungarian Laszlo Haaz in a scheduled for six. Nielsen, 5-0, shows promise but is very green.
Newly crowned EBU heavy champ Aleksander Dimitrenko have Audley Harrison as mandatory challenger and the EBU have set September 3 as deadline for purse offers and agreements. The winner of Dimitrenko vs Harrison have to fight Russian Denis Bakhtov.
It´s been a quite summer in the Nordic countries but September will be a lot more busy. Denmark have of course Kessler vs Green September 25 in Herning, Sweden have two shows scheduled, September 10 and 24. The show in Karlstad September 24 might be the first in Sweden since 1969 with fights over longer distances than today´s maximum 12 minutes. It´s now in the hands of the Martial Arts Delegation to give a special permission or not. Last but not least, P 3 Boxing in Finland will stage a show sometime in September, most likely with former EBU champ Amin Asikainen, now campaigning at supermiddle, headlining.
Jr middles Siarhei Rabchenko and Roman Dzuman clash for the vacant EE-EU title October 23 in Minsk, Belorus. Dzuman comes in from a career best win when he stopped Frenchman Christophe Canclaux in May. No less than ten of Roman´s last twelve fights have been for a title - he´s held the EEBA, Ukrainian, GBU and Czech Int´l belts and have challenged for the EBU title twice and also fought for the WBO I/C and EE-EU titles.
Lightweights Jean Pierre Bauwens and Sergei Palomo clash October 1 in Gent, Belgium, in non-title ten-rounder. Bauwens holds the national and WBC Youth titles but is relatively untested and Palomo, reigning Spanish champ, represents a step up in class. The undercard features veteran cruiser and lightheavy Ismail Abdoul, a local man who´s fought all over Europe.
Caramelito Promotions in Finland staged a succesful small hall show in Vasa this weekend. Heavyweight Janne Katajisto moved to 6-0 with a six round decision over Lithuanian Igoris Borucha. Caramelito next promotes in Kankanpaa October 2 with Katajisto again on top and this time for one title or another.
