Artur Grigorian disappointed as Paul Spadafora is ducking him

21.06 - Hamburg – Great disappointment for WBO lightweight world champion “King” Artur Grigorian. The undefeated Hamburg based fighter was lined up to face IBF title holder Paul Spadafora on August 17 in the US.

It would have been a significant unification fight between two reigning world champions that would have enjoyed the hearts of many boxing fans worldwide.

However, today Universum Box-Promotion who represents Grigorian since he turned pro in 1994 learned that Spadafora backed down and instead wants to face 36-year-old Italian Stefano Zoff the same day.

“Obviously Spadafora is affraid that Grigorian is a too dangerous opponent for him”, promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl commented. “Basically all parties involved were satisfied. The contracts were almost signed. Now the sudden turnaround. Who is Zoff? He is 36 years old. Spadafora knows that Grigorian is the best lightweight in the world and that he can’t beat him. He is ducking us.”

In fact a whole class is separating the accomplishments of Grigorian and Zoff.

While Artur Grigorian is undefeated in 34 fights with 22 knockouts could Zoff only win 38 of his 47 contests.

Grigorian is the reigning WBO lightweight world champion, a title that he is holding uninterrupted since April of 1996. The German based Usbekian defended his title 15 times successfully.

Even though Stefano Zoff is a former champ as well, his reign was quite unimpressive. The Italian held the WBA 135 lb. title for only three months. In August of 1999 he won it by a close and controversial decision from Julien Lorcy and lost it right away in the first defense to underdog Gilberto Serrano by technical knockout.

“I’m very disappointed”, lightweight king Artur Grigorian said. “I was looking forward to this fight very much. It would be the biggest fight of my career. And it’s a fight the fans want to see. But I’m still hopeful that Spadafora shows the heart of a champion and accepts my challenge!”