WBO/WBC World Female middleweight champion Christina Hammer (23-0, 10 KOs) will be taking a non-title fight against little known journeyman Elene Sikmashvili (8-7, 4 KOs) this month on February 9 at the beautiful Verti Music Hall, in Berlin, Germany.
Hammer, 28, is taking a stay busy fight following her impressive one-sided 10 round unanimous decision victory over American Tori Nelson (19-2-3, 3 KOs) last June in Detroit, Michigan. That fight was supposed to be competitive, but Hammer gave the over-matched Nelson a boxing lesson in beating her by a lopsided decision by the scores 99-91, 99-91 and 100-90.
Sikmashvili, who comes from Tbilisi, Georgia, doesn’t figure to give Hammer much in the way of competition in the fight. Sikmashvili comes into the fight having lost 7 out of her last 10 fights. She’s lost her last two fights by early knockouts to Elin Cederroos [1st round TKO] and Ivana Habazin [5th round TKO]. If Hammer wants to score a fast knockout of Sikmashvili, she certainly can, but that would defeating the purpose of taking a tune-up fight against this kind of competition.
The Kazakhstan born Hammer needs to get some rounds in, and Sikmashvili is the perfect opponent for her to work on different things before she looks to finish her off in the later rounds. That’s ideal way for Hammer to use this type of opponent. It won’t do her any good if she smashes Sikmashvili to bits in the first 30 seconds of the fight. That would be like not even fighting.
The difference in pedigree between Hammer and Sikmashvili is huge. This is a fight that could end quickly if Hammer chooses to exert herself. As long as Hammer stays in first gear, Sikmashvili should be fine, but if he decides to open up with anything big, the fight is going to end immediately. This is a good showcase fight for Hammer if she wants to look devastatingly good. Aside from that, it could leave the boxing fans wanting more from her in terms of better competition.
Hammer is looking virtually unstoppable right now with her career. She’s beaten some very good fighters in the last seven years in defeating Maria Lindberg [twice], Mikaela Lauren, Jessica Balogun, and Kali Reis.
In other action on the card, German KO artist Nick Hannig (6-0, 4 KOs) will be battling 36-year-old Canadian Ryan Ford (15-3, 10 KOs) for the vacant World Boxing Council International Light Heavyweight Title. Hannig doesn’t have much experience to be fighting for a title, but he might not need it….
Ford is long in the tooth, and he’s lost three out of his last four fights in defeats to Avni Yildirim, Fedor Chudinov and Andrey Sirotkin. Those are all quality fighters. Hannig, 32, got a late start to his pro career at 30-years-old, so he’s going to need to rush things a little for him to accomplish as much as possible before he ages out.
Vartan Avetisyan (18-0-1, 11 KOs) will be taking on Yusuf Kanguel (17-3-1, 11 KOs) for his World Boxing Council Mediterranean Super Middleweight Title in a 10 round bout. Kanguel, 35, was recently stopped by Vincent Feigenbutz in the fifth round last September.
Tickets are available at www.eventim.de & www.verti-music-hall.de or by calling Tel. +49 176 24 15 61 41.
Boxing fans can watch the entire fight card LIVE and free on ranFIGHTING.de on February 9 from Berlin.