The German Update: Shake-up in Germany!

25.07.04 – by Christopher P. Cook / www.germanupdate.com: Returning from a week-long trip in Germany, I was able to watch first-hand several of Germany’s top prospects in action. First, I want to thank everyone in Germany for an amazing experience, I have never enjoyed myself as much as I did while in Germany. If any of you are able to attend a boxing match in Germany, take a look at SES! They put on a fabulous show. And to my interpreter, Lexi, thank you so much for being there, you made my great trip an amazing one.

Back to boxing, on Saturday the 17th, Sport Event’s Steinforth held their event in Dessau, Germany, at the Sport Stadt Dessau Arena after a working deal with AURA sports fell through. With well over 2000 spectators, Ulf Steinforth and the entire crew put on a
beautifully designed event which was televised live on D:SF television in Germany. Headlining the card, NBA Middleweight champion Dirk Dzemski squared off with Wiking Boxing’s prospect Sebastian Sylvester. Dirk, defending his title for the sixth time, entered the ring in his
usual fashion, very flashy and with Masha (a beautiful, young German singer – more info at masha-online.com) singing his entrance music. Sebastian, on the other hand, entered with the face of a killer, one that was ready to take the title home with him. That killer face and obvious focus would show in the bout. Sebastian took the attack to Dirk right away landing a short-right to drop Dirk at 2:59 in the round. This knockdown was Dirk’s first in his professional career, while it was only a flash knockdown, it obviously shocked him. Coming out tentative in the second, Dirk was able to get back on track some as he and Sebastian traded the next few rounds. Action was stopped after the sixth round as Dirk and his corner threw in the towel due to an injury he has sustained. It is unclear what round he injured his hand, but Dirk took the smart choice and instead of injuring it further, decided to call it a night. Sebastian won via TKO victory and is the newly crowned NBA champion. The bout was also for the German title and the German International belt. Dirk underwent surgery in his hand on Wednesday and is looking to start training in mid-August. Dirk and his management are looking for a rematch in October-November range.

In the most impressive action on the undercard, pro debut super middleweight Natascha Ragosina destroyed fellow debut Olga Gorbonosenko in less than one round. Natascha showed great ring knowledge, landing her punches easily and was able to do something most new fighters are unable to do, throw their punches correctly. Natascha is already looking forward to a bout with Laila Ali and is moving to the United States shortly to work against American competition. Light middleweight sensation Lukas Konecny easily defended his German International belt against Moritz Mahmudov by unanimous decision. Judges scored the bout 98-92 and 96-94 twice. Konecny was more active throughout the bout and improved his record to 22-0 with 11 KOs as Mahmudov dropped to 10-2 (4 KOs). In welterweight action for the German International title, Jan Zaveck (13-0-0, 7 KOs) faced Arthur Nowak (7-4-0, 2 KOs) in ten rounds of action. The first half of the bout was one-sided, with Zaveck dominating the punching and pace. Nowak came back a bit in the sixth, landing a few good shots to push Zaveck back from the attack. Jan, however, used his experience to come back and stop the bout in the eighth at the 2:00 mark. Norman Schuster, light middleweight, improved to 4-0 (2 KOs) easily handing Ferenc Gurmai (2-9-0, 0 KOs a defeat. Schuster knocked Gurmai down in the first and never let up, winning the six-round contest. In other action, light welterweight Nico Salzmann (6-3-2, 0 KOs) won a UD-4 over Ondra Skala (1-10-1, 0 KOs) and heavyweight Andreas Sidon improved his record to 24-5 with 19 KOs by knocking out, the now 1-20, Julius Petrovic.

Sauerland Promotions put together a championship card consisting of ten action-packed bouts at Brandenburg-Halle in Frankfurt (Oder) on Saturday, July 24. Headlining the card, Germany’s Danilo Häußler (23-2-0, 6 KOs) fought against Denmark’s Rudy Markussen (29-1-0, 17 KOs) for the vacant EBU Super Middleweight title. Häußler, the former EBU title-holder, was looking to regain his title that he lost in October of 2003 to another Dane, Mads Larsen. This bout would end similar, with Markussen winning the bout via unanimous decision. Häußler looked outmatched in the first half, with Markussen dropping him in the fifth and sixth rounds. He was able to recover some and catch-up on the scorecards in the second part. Markussen, feeling the pressure, floored the German again in round twelve to secure the decision victory. Judges scored the bout 113-112 and 115-111 twice for the new EBU champion Rudy Markussen.

The co-main event of the evening places Europe’s newest heavyweight threat Nicolay Valuev (37-0-0, 28 KOs) against former Olympic medalist Ruchard Bango (16-1-0, 12 KOs). The Beast from the East was able to put a stoppage to the bout in the sixth round, moving himself closer to a world title bout. In action for the WBF Light Middleweight title, Mihály Kotai (29-1-0, 15 KOs) defeated Floyd Trumpet (12-4-1, 6 KOs) in eight rounds, winning the bout by TKO. Heavyweight Sinan Samil Sam (20-2-0, 13 KOs) made short work in his bout, destroying Doug Liggion (9-5-1, 4 KOs) in less than one round. Other action on the card: Mger Mkrtchian TKO-2 Branko Sobot / Rene Dettweiler PTS-4 Aleksandre Borgovs / Krzysztof Bienias UD-6 Michal Durovic / György Hidvégi TKO-3 Wlodek Kopec / Cengiz Koc UD-6 Terry McGroom / Alexander Sipos UD-8 Hamlet Petrosian.

This coming Saturday, July 31, Stuttgart will play host to an exciting night of boxing. Universum Box-Promotion will be headlining the card with a heavyweight bout for the European Championship, Luan Krasniqi (26-1-0, 12 KOs) versus Rene Monse (14-1-0, 7 KOs). The fighters met in January of 2002, where Monse was able to floor Krasniqi in the second, however, Krasniqi squeaked out a majority decision victory.

The undercard will showcase Konstantin Onofrei vs. Goran Gogic for the German International Heavyweight title, Firat Aslan and Lee Osie Manuel for the EU Cruiserweight belt, Alexander Dimitrenko faces Ross Puritty and more. For tickets, contact Universum Box-Promotion: 040/69 65 59 59 or CTS: 0180 55 70 000.

July has certainly been an exciting month for German boxing and the final card of the month should have nothing less than fireworks.