KOTAI BACK IN THE GROOVE

PHOTO: Tied Up! – Kotai shows off his newly won WBF belt and the tie given to him afterwards by Hungarian boxing legend Istvan ‘Koko’ Kovacs in a gesture of respect

16.09 - German manager Olaf Schroeder of Fight Production takes back his Hungarian WBF superwelterweight champion Mihaly Kotai to England where he is scheduled to tackle locally-based former WBF and Commonwealth title challenger Farai Musiyiwa next Saturday in Nottingham.

The 23-year-old Zimbabwan has an impressive record of 13 wins from 18 fights and seems to have, like Kotai, some sort of punch himself with 10 knockout wins. Nevertheless, with an unblemished record of 24-0 (11), Kotai will be favoured on paper as he comes off the biggest win of his career, capturing the WBF crown with a clear decision over Russia’s Akhmed Oligov last time out in June, while Musiyiwa has lost his last three, though admittedly against high-caliber opposition like James Hare and Adrian Stone.

Rated No. 1 by the European Boxing Union (EBU) and a former WBC International champion, the 27-year-old Magyar has already left Budapest this past weekend and spends the last days leading up to the clash with Musiyiwa with German trainer Theo Kerekesch at the latters Rottweil home before heading to the United Kingdom. It will be Kotai’s sixth trip to England and should he successfully deal with Musiyiwa will next make yet another return to British shores for his first title defence.

RTL Klub will again televise Kotai’s fight in Hungary, where the boxer is one of the country’s biggest sports celebrities.