12.12.06 – By Per Ake Persson: Mahir Oral is out and Mustapha Karagol is in as opponent for Italian Domenico Spada on Friday in Hamburg on Arena Box Promotion´s big show at the Sporthalle. According to Arena, Oral, EU champ at 160, and co-challenger for the vacant WBC title, hurt his right hand as he tried to interfere in a brawl that had erupted in the hotel where the press conference announding the show took place.. As it was he was forced to pull out. Karagol, a former Turkish champ and Olympian, is only 8-0 and is up against it against Spada, 21-0. Both titles are still at stake with the winner to face Oral inside 90 days. On the show comebacking heavyweight Juan Carlos Gomez will take on Brazilian Daniel Frank. Gomez stopped Frank in two back in 2002.
Team Palle is close to a deal in regards of Spend Abazi vs Roberto Guerrero for the vacant IBF 126 lb title. The fight could happen early next year in Denmark. Should it go wrong – the fight doesn´t come off or Spend lose – there is still the chance to fight for the EBU title in the same weight division where the Dane remains official challenger while champ Cyril Thomas takes on Ukrainian Yuri Voronin.
WBA jr welter champ Souleyman M´Baye strongly denies any connections to illegal substances and the now infamous dr Fuentes.
The internal feuding inside Swedish boxing came to light when media broke the story that ex-WBO middle champ Armand Krajnc will be denied a license in Sweden for his comeback Janaury 27 in Gothenburg. Will be denied a license? Well, he haven´t applied yet but dr Sanna Neselius (who fought as Sanna Rauta) still draws the conclusion that based on Krajnc´s medical history he can´t fight with a Swedish license. Krajnc suffered a subdural haematoma (what to a layman is a bleeding between the brain and the skull) when he was knocked out by Sergey Tatevosyan in 2002. Armand have since fought under a German and Austrian license and challenged Sven Ottke in 2004 before retiring. There is however no final decision on the matter from the pro boxing commission inside the Swedish Federation but one couldn´t help but notice that announcing the press conference where the promoters, New Sweden, announced Krajnc´s comeback was Olof Johansson, General Secretary in the this commission. More to come.