11.02.06 – By Per Ake Persson: WBF supermiddle champ Stepjan Bozic from Croatia fights on the undercard to Abraham vs Taylor March 4 in Oldenburg against Russian David Gogia. In case of a win Bozic is likely to be signed up by Sauerland Event. Also on the bill is IBF I/C heavyweight champ Henry Akinwande, who takes on Cisse Salife. Off the show is Marischa Sjauw, who was to have fought WIBF jr middle titleholder Heidi Hartmann..
It looks like the talks between Don King Productions and Sauerland Event about WBA 147 lb champ Luis Collazo taking on Oktay Urkal are making progress and the fight could end up on the April 1 show where Nikolay Valuev defends the WBA heavyweight title. Also on that bill is Belgian heavy Oleg Platov.
The Frederik Klose vs Antonio Lauri clash for the vacant EBU 147 lb title will now go ahead in Reims April 14. In the co-headliner EBU supermiddle ruler Jackson Chanet takes on dangerous Russian Mger Mkrtchian. Ex-WBA lightheavy titleholder Medhi Sahnoune is also on the bill.
Boxrec Czech check: It seems like Czech trial horses Zsolt Botos and Milan Vrsecky have “lost” some fights recently. Not long ago Vrsecky had eight wins – now he´s down to zero to go with his 22 losses and a draw. Botos was credited with 15 wins that has now dwindled down to six – to go with 21 losses.
Laila Ali´s next fight could be in Dubai in April. More to come.
Newly crowned British Masters 135 lb champ Sam Rukondo will fight again late March in a non-title bout and might then return home to Uganda to fight for the national title. Rukondo won the Swedish chamionship in the amateurs but represented Uganda in the Olympics. He now resides in Uppsala, Sweden, but travels to London for fights and to work out under ex-EBU champ James Cook. He´s managed by Mickey Helliet.
Russian welter Dennis Shafikov is along with his coach Sergey Sobinov heading to Los Angeles February 15 to train. Shafikov will be on a show in Las Vegas in the middle of March.