15.10.05 – By Per Ake Persson: Busy night in Europe yesterday (Oct 14) with shows all over the continent. In Kiev, Ukraine, with ex-heavy champ Lennox Lewis in attendance lightheavies Yuri Barashian and Vyacheslav Uzelkov both won. Barashian knocked out Hungarian Istvan Varga in the third while Uzelkov won on points over veteran Mukadi Manda. Jr welter Sergey Fedchenko stopped Swiss Vito Rana in the final round of their scheduled eight-rounder. Valery Brazhnik won the vacant national 147 lb title with a fifth round knockout over Georgyi Isakov.
Kiko “La Sensacion” Martinez took out Miguel Seguera in the second of a superbantam contest that headlined a show in Dolores, Alicante, Spain. On the undercard huge heavy Leif Dolonen Larsen brushed aside soft touch Zoltan Petranyi in the second while jr middle Nikita Dubunin made his prodebut with landslide points victory over Vladimir Tazek. Finally, jr welter Emiliano Casal outscored Patrik Prokopecz.
Belgian supermiddle Michael Henrotin stopped shot German Danny Thiele in the second in Villers le Bouillet.
Alessio Furlan retained the IBF Mediterranean 154 lb title with a tenth round knockout over Belgian Alexander Polizzi in Rivarolo Canavese, Italy.
Finally, Danish Risum Boxing, with a German license, made its promotional debut putting on with what at least on paper must be the worst garbage show ever on these shores. At heavyweight Richel Hersisia, an inflated 26-1, whacked out Romanian Ioan Mihai, well at best 1-11-1, in the second. UK-licensed Ugandan by way of Sweden, lightweight Samuel Rukondo outscored Hungarian spoiler Bela Sandor, who haven´t won a fight this decade, over six. Cruiser Lasse Johansen stopped Marian Tudor in the third while Fawaz Nasir vs Richard Remen was ruled a no contest after an accidental clash of heads left the Slovakian unable to continue. This little show created turmoil in many European Federations in the days leading up to showtime and even involved the Danish Ministre of Justice, who in violation with their own rules finally gave go ahead for Johansen and Nasir to fight in Denmark with a German license.
Why that should be a problem? Well, in the guidelines for professional boxing in Denmark the Ministre of Justice actually states that Danish citizens shall have a Danish license in order to fight in Denmark … furthermore the involvment from the German Federation led to a reaction from the EBU who stated the promoter of the show should organize it under the control of the Federation where it takes place. This led to that the Finnish Federation withdrew authorization for Kai Kauramaki to appear on the bill while the Dutch (for Hersisia), British (for Rukondo) and German gave the green light for their fighters to appear (I doubt anyone asked the Slovakian and Romanian Federations).
It began when Universum took the German Federation, the BDB, with them on the road Ukraine and other countries to supervise their shows. Later Germany´s other big promotional outfit, Sauerland Event left the BDB for the Austrian Federation, who now supervise Sauerland´s shows in Germany and this got the ball rolling and no-one seems to be able to see the end of it. The worst case scenario is that “budget” Federations, who take shortcuts in medical safety, take over more expensive operations. Risum Boxing managed to break down another barrier when they were able to promote this show in Denmark with the BDB – something that were thought to be impossible with rules laid out by the Danish Ministre of Justice, who by the way also have stated they need to rework their rules …
Other news: The latest WBA ratings have EBU 168 lb champ Vitaly Tsypko as # 2 with his challenger, they meet November 18, Jackson Chanet as # 3 with the # 1 spot vacant so winner in this one will probably become mandatory challenger for champ Mikkel Kessler, who may make a voluntary defence in December or January.
The WBA have pursebids for Maselino Masoe vs Felix Sturm – 160 – and Luis Collazo vs Oktay Urkal – 147 – October 17 in Miami but it´s likely the parties, Don King Productions (Masoe and Collazo), Universum (Sturm) and Sauerland Event (Urkal) involved reach an agreement before it goes to that.