Michalczewski to defend against Derrick Harmon

17.03 - Hamburg - On March 29 WBO light heavyweight world champion Dariusz Michalczewski will defend his crown against American Derrick Harmon at the brand new Color Line Arena in Hamburg. The 14.500 seat arena is expected to be a sell out.

Chief coach Fritz Sdunek doesn’t expect another sensational upset after his other charge Wladimir Klitschko was knocked out by South African Corrie Sanders two weeks ago. However, the experienced coach warns against Michalczewski’s American challenger.

“I think we are going to win this fight. Dariusz will remain the world champion and he will continue to seek for new world records” Sdunek said. “But we don’t take Harmon lightly. There are similarities to Corrie Sanders. He is little known in Germany but he fought against top opposition in the US. And he also looked very good against Roy Jones. He landed a lot of punches against Jones.”

Ten days after the Klitschko shocker Fritz Sdunek explains what was going wrong when Wladimir Klitschko lost his WBO title to the South African southpaw.

“Wladimir wasn’t concentrated. He fought hastily. After he was hit by a relatively light punch he wanted to retaliate immediately. He rushed Sanders without setting it up with his jab and he paid for it. He ran into a counter punch and never recovered.”

Sdunek supports the idea of a direct rematch between Klitschko and Corrie Sanders.

“Everything went optimal in Wladimir’s training. Only Wladimir can tell what was wrong when the fight began. I don’t know what was going on in his head.”

Coach Sdunek is confident that his 34-year-old light heavyweight world champion won’t suffer the same fate as Klitschko.

“Dariusz has great experience. And he can take a shot. Of course when somebody lands a big lucky punch it can be over for anybody. But I hope that this won’t happen. For the present we’ve had enough big surprises. Wladimir’s defeat was another sensation in boxing. But I hope this won’t happen to one of our boxer any time again.”

Sdunek explains that Dariusz Michalcezwski started training this time very early because he had a relatively long break since his last fight, a brutal rematch against Richard Hall in September that he won by knockout in round 10.

“We made a lot of sparring this time, all in all 80 rounds. Dariusz is in great shape physically and he is also mentally very stabile.”

It will be the 23rd title defense for Michalczewski, 47-0 (40 KO’s) who won the WBO belt in September of 1994 against Leeonzer Barber and has since defended it against an impressive list of top opposition, including Virgil Hill, Graciano Rocchigiani (twice), Drake Thadzi, Montell Griffin and Richard Hall (twice).

It’s the second attempt to win a world title for Derrick Harmon, 23-3 (11 KO’s). In February 2001 he gave Roy Jones Jr. a solid challenge for 10 rounds until Harmon’s corner men stopped the contest between rounds because of an injury to the fighter’s ear.

Last July the 33-year-old dropped a 12-round decision to former world champion Montell Griffin, then scored a 2nd round knockout over Tim Littles in November.

In April 2002 Harmon defeated Glencoffee Johnson, the single conqueror of Michalczewski’s stable mate Thomas Ulrich. Derrick Harmon is ranked #9 by the WBC, #5 by the IBF and #10 by the WBO.

On the undercard in Hamburg undefeated light heavyweight from Hungary Zsolt Erdei, 14-0 (10 KO's), will defend his WBO intercontinental title against Brazilian José Hilton Santos.

Also in action at Color Line Arena: Former European heavyweight champion Luan Krasniqi, 22-1 (12), 6-foot-7 heavyweight prospect from Russia Alexander Dimitrenko, 6-0 (4), undefeated cruiserweight contender Alexander Petkovic, 25-0-3 (13) and former WBO middleweight world champion Bert Schenk, 31-1 (19).

More news, photos and insider information on www.boxing.de

The next events of Universum Box-Promotion

March 29
Color Line Arena, Hamburg
Dariusz Michalczewski vs. Derrick Harmon
for Michalczewski's WBO light heavyweight title

April 26
Sport- und Kongresshalle, Schwerin
Sinan Samil Sam vs. Julius Francis
for Sam's European heavyweight title

You can order tickets for the event in Hamburg online on www.boxing.de.