Richel Hersisia shooting up the Heavyweight ladder

FROM BERLIN TO BARBADOS

03.03 - Newly crowned Dutch heavyweight champion Richel Hersisia today starts sparring with German Timo Hoffmann in Frankfurt/Oder as they both prepare for a slot on the undercard of the huge Sven Ottke vs Byron Mitchell IBF/WBA supermiddleweight unification bill.

The undefeated Hersisia, who won his first two titles in his last two outings, will clash over 8 rounds with the former Olympic bronze medalist Wojciech Bartnik of Poland at the Max-Schmeling-Hall in Berlin on this Sauerland Event presentation. As a professional, Bartnik has lost only two decisions from a dozen outings with five of his wins coming by knockout. It will be interesting to see if the Dutchman’s huge punching power, as illustrated by his current record of 17-0 with all but three wins coming via the short route, will have any effect on the tough Pole. Furthermore, Bartnik can look back on a long and successful amateur career on international level, whereas Hersisia only had 25 unpaid starts; thus experience could be a factor.

That said, a win is almost a must for the protégé of former European superwelterweight champion Mourad Louati, because the next step in his career is already planned out. “If Richel wins, we will go back to the Caribbean and defend his WBA Central American title (which Hersisia won last November on his island of birth Curacao) on April 19 on Barbados,” explains manager Olaf Schröder of German company Fight Production.