22.02.07 – Back again: on February 27th the highly rated spotlight boxing talents will be welcomed for another time in Cuxhaven. Eight fights are scheduled and will present once more a boxing highlight. Khoren Gevor – the current WBO-Intercontinental Champ at middleweight is headlining this event. This fight will be most likely the last one before his dream will come true – having a chance to fight for a World Championship belt..
Gevor has been waiting fort his for quite some time. As the No. 1 of the WBO rankings he has been named the mandatory challenger for the reining and two time title holder, “Superchamp” Jermain Taylor (USA). His opponent in his 8 rounder in Cuxhaven is the Brazilian Edison Francisco Guedes (10-5-0 (5)).
Another highlight will bet he bout of super middleweight Denis Inkin against the South African Emmanuel “Brown Bomber” Duma (11-8-1 (6)). The unbeaten Universum fighter has got an impressive record under his belt: he won 22 out of his 29 fights by KO.
Aleksander Alekseev (8-0-0 (7)), the unbeaten cruiserweight of spotlight boxing, faces Henry Saenz (13-5-1 (10)). But: Thomas Ulrich had some problems with the Nicaraguan in April 2006 and was taken into the distance before winning on clearly on points.
Super middleweight Eduard Gutknecht is one to watch. In his 6th pro fight he is challenged by the Hungarian Gabor Zsalek (4-4-1 (2)).
The KO king at middleweight, Gennady Golovkin, will be another eye –catcher for the crowd. During his amateur career he was Youth World Champion (2000) and (2003). At the Olympic Games in Athen in 2004 he won the silver medal. He has won all of his 6 fights by KO in an impressive manner. He will meet Simon Mokoena (16-16-5 (5)) of South Africa.
Also on the card the unbeaten spotlight fighters:
Lukas Wilaschek (15-0-0 (6)) vs. Andile Tshongolo (16-11-0 (10)) Super Middleweight
Aleksy Kuziemski (10-0-0 (1)) vs. Karim Bennama (16-7-2 (3)) Light Heavyweight
Maurice Weber (7-0-1 (3)) vs. Gabriel Lecrosnier (6-3-0 (1)) Welterweight
The only women in the program is flyweight Rebekka Herrmann (5-1-0 (1))
Cuxhaven is expecting another night of interesting fights !!!
Location: Kugelbake-Halle, Cuxhaven
Starts at: 17.30 Uhr
Ticket sales: Veranstaltungszentrum Cuxhaven, Ticket Hotline: 04721-408188
TV broadcast: Eurosport, from 9:00 pm LIVE
The „Lion“ Luan Krasniqi challenges „The Beast“ Brian Minto in a fight for the WBO Interconti Championship
Alexander „Sascha“ Dimitrenko faces the US-American Danny Batchelder on Saturday, 17th March 2007 from 17.45 Uhr in Stuttgart, Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle
WBO-Interconti Championship at Heavyweight
Luan Krasniqi (GER) vs. Brian Minto (USA)
Heavyweight
Alexander Dimitrenko (UKR) vs. Danny Batchelder (USA)
WBA World Championship at Bantamweight
Wladimir Sidorenko (UKR) vs. Ricardo Cordoba (PAN)
besides other Heavyweight fights including
Egon Roth (GER) vs. Mike Middleton (USA)
Taras Bidenko (UKR) vs. Fernely Feliz (DOM)
It’s official now:
Former heavyweight title challenger Luan Krasniqi (29-2-1, 14 KOs) and Brian Minto (27-1, 16 KOs) will collide for the WBO Intercontinental belt on the big March 17 edition of the “Universum Champions Night” in Stuttgart.
It is sure to be a highly charged fight, with Minto having derailed comebacking German icon Axel Schulz last November.
The 32 year old Minto of Butler in Pennsylvania, who is known as „The Beast“, is currently ranked at no. 15 in the WBO rankings.
Local hero Luan Krasniqi wants to get back into the top positions in the rankings in order to have another shot at one of the Championship belts.
“Finally, a fight!,” said Krasniqi, who last fought in April 2006. “It was the longest preparation I have ever had. Despite the delay and the injury I was always preparing. I feel fit. I’ll give the answer to my fans and above all to Brian Minto on March 17.”
In his last fight in Stuttgart in April 2006, when he defeated the US-American David Bostice, Krasniqi displayed that he never gives up on his dream and still aims to be the next German heavyweight World Champion. He will always be remembered in German boxing history due to his impressive and dramatic performance in the World Championship fight in September 2005, the Birthday of Max Schmeling, when he lost to the American Champ Lamon Brewster. Krasniqi, in the lead on all three scorecards, lost by knockout in the 9th round.
Also in action will be unbeaten heavyweight contender Alexander Dimitrenko (24-0, 14 KOs), who will face Danny Batchelder (25-3-1, 12 KOs).
WBO-Interconti-Champion Alexander Dimitrenko (24-0-0 (14)) steps into the ring in Stuttgart for the 6th time. The unbeaten 6’7 giant out of the Universum boxing stable wants to continue his way to a World Championship fight, saying: „I don’t care who I will fight, I want to be World Champion. Stuttgart is my second home and it will be a great night. “
A third highlight will be the WBA world bantamweight championship clash between unbeaten champion “mini-powerstation” Wladimir Sidorenko (19-0-1, 6 KOs) and Ricardo Cordoba (29-1-1, 19 KOs). They battled to a draw in their first fight, but Sidorenko has vowed, “I will destroy him.”
Rounding out the lineup is the return of unbeaten heavyweight prospect Egon Roth (16-0, 12 KOs) who will face Mike Middleton (11-18-1, 5 KOs), Spotlight Boxing heavyweight Taras Bidenko (21-2, 12 KOs) against Fernely Feliz (23-7, 16 KOs) and unbeaten Spotlight super middleweight Karoly Balzsay (15-0, 11 KOs) vs TBA.
Ticket Hotlines: 040- 69 65 59 59, 0711-25 55 555 or 01805 – 570 000
www.boxing.de/tickets-shop/tickets.html and at all known Ticket Shops
ProSieben Fight Night
On Friday, spotlight boxing staged their first event of the year and their first in association with German TV network ProSieben, billed as “ProSieben Fight Night.” The card took place at the Fight Night Arena in Cologne, Germany.
In the main event, Susianna Kentikian fought against Carolina Alvarez for the vacant WBA female flyweight championship, while the televised undercard saw Spotlight middleweight Sebastian Zbik in his first title bout against Fawaz Nasir for the vacant WBO Intercontinental middleweight belt along with a super featherweight bout between Olympian Vitali Tajbert and Alessandro Di Meco plus unbeaten Heavyweight Sebastian Köber against experienced Zoltan Beres.
Rising star Susianna Kentikian captured the vacant WBA Female Flyweight title by ninth round TKO against tough but completely outclassed Carolina Alvarez from Venezuela. Alvarez was very wild with her punches, had nearly no defense and was unable to get away from Kentikian’s hard counters. Kentikian couldn’t miss with her punches during the first five rounds. In the sixth, however, Alvarez had some success as she was able to corner Kentikian and land a good right hand later in the round.
But still, Kentikian won the round because she was way more effective with her punches. Kentikian showed good ring generalship, very good reflexes and great stamina. Alvarez made it a difficult fight because of her wild style and her warrior mentality but was no match for Kentikian.
Alvarez tried to turn the page in the eight but Kentikian landed more clean punches. In the ninth, finally, the referee stopped the bout at :27 minute as Alvarez was once again taking everything thrown by Kentikian. It was a great performance by the new WBA champion. Kentikian stands now at 15-0 with 12 KOs, Alvarez suffered her first loss in stunning fashion, her record falls to 8-1-1 with 4 KOs.
German middleweight hope Sebastian Zbik won a entertaining unanimous decision against very game Fawaz Nasir from Denmark to capture the vacant WBO Intercontinental title. It was a close bout, as Zbik was more aggressive and seemed to throw the more powerful punches, while Nasir used his good jab and a fine counter right hand during the fight. The first five rounds were close, it seemed, however, like Zbik was getting the better of them. It was a technical but fast-paced affair. In the second part of the bout, both fighters engaged in many exchanges and as a result, the German was heavily bleeding from his nose in the eleventh.
Nasir seemed tired around the eight stanza and was slightly stunned by a right hand to the body in the same round. But he recovered well and fought back to claim the ninth and to dominate the tenth until he got caught by a great right hand near the end of the round that hurt him.
The championship rounds were close. Both fighters showed some guts but it was Nasir who was able to close the show better. The fans were on their feet during the bout and were chanting for the hometown favorite Zbik. The decision was rightfully close but fair, as the judges saw it 115:113, 115:114 and 116:112 in favor of Zbik, who kept his unbeaten record intact and stands now at 17-0 with 7 KOs. Nasir lost his “0” and is now 10-1, 5 KOs with one no-contest.
Hot prospect Vitali Tajbert, promoted by Spotlight Boxing, put on an excellent performance, the best of his young career, as he destroyed Italian Alessandro Di Meco in just one round. After a slow start, the Olympic Bronze medalist of 2004 landed a huge right hand to deck his foe. Di Mecco got up but was on unsteady legs from then on. Another right knocked him down seconds later, shortly afterwards, a quick combination knocked the former EBU challenger down for the third and final time as the referee immediately called the bout at 2:08 minutes of the very first round. It was the tenth victory in his tenth outing as a professional fighter for Tajbert, four of them by KO. Di Meco falls to 26-6-1.
Unbeaten Heavyweight Sebastian Köber scored a spectacular second round knockout over journeyman Zoltan Beres. The German hurt his opponent seconds into the bout with a big right uppercut, but Beres was able to stay away and avoid a knockdown in the opening stanza. However, he couldn’t repeat this feat in round two, as a big right hand by Köber put him down for the ten-count in the after 1:07. Köber extends his record to 7-0, all of those victories by way of knockout. Beres falls to 33-37-2.
Review of the last events:
„Universum Champions Night“ in Düsseldorf, 27th January 2007
The „Firebird“ Zsolt Erdei was too strong for the „Bronx Bomber“ Danny Santiago. Erdei defended his WBO title at light heavyweght last night in Düsseldorf by Tko in round 8. The crowd of 4200 at the „Universum Champions Night“ in the Burg Wächter Castello was thrilled by the superb performance of Erdei.
From the Interims World Championess to the real World Championess. Julia Sahin dethroned the Russian Anastasia Toktaulova, WIBF-World Champion at Jr. flyweight in Düsseldorf. The 32 year old Sahin from Cologne, Interims World Champion of the WIBF since April 2006, won by unanimous decision after the full distance of 10 rounds.
„Universum Champions Night“ in Halle/Saale, 13th January 2007
She´s the one and only – Regina Halmich.
In the main event, superstar female flyweight world champion Regina Halmich (52-1-1, 16 KOs) continued her record-breaking run with a one-sided ten round unanimous decision over WIBF superfly titlist Reka Krempf (13-8-3, 5 KOs).
Halmich was busier, more aggressive and busted up the face of Krempf toward the end of the bout. Scores were 99-92, 98-93, 99-91. The was a record 44th world title fight for Halmich.
Light heavyweight contender Thomas Ulrich (30-3, 19 KOs) claimed the European light heavyweight championship and the WBO Intercontinental belt with a tenth round TKO over Rachid Kanfouah (27-6, 22 KOs) in front of a sold out Brandberge Arena in Halle/Saale, Germany.
In another female world title clash, unbeaten super welterweight Karolina Lukasik (6-0) took the WIBF belt with a split decision against Jill Emery (7-1, 3 KOs) by scores of 99-92, 94-96, 97-93.
World Champion Zsolt Erdei presents his first children’s book „The little firebird“
He became a father for the first time in October 2006 and this moment inspired him once more to write a children’s book. It is called “The little firebird” and refers to his nickname of Madar which means firebird in Hungarian.
“My son has given me so much inspiration to write this book. I’m so proud and happy and I want to give some of this happiness to many others, especially kids.” Erdei has supported children in his home of Hungary for many years with and in different projects.
Zsolt Erdei has got a special relationship with the book main character. “The little firebird” is a book based on his nickname which was given to him in his boyhood time. When he walks into the ring today, in the background yoou hear the music of a Hungarian song called “Szállj el kismadár” which means “flying bird”.
The firebird is also to be seen on his fight gear and Erdei states “this bird brought me luck and gives me power”
The revenue of the German version of this book will go toward an organisation for children’s in need.
„The little firebird“ – a short description of the content:
An adventure at night: the little firebird is looking for his friend, the shooting star, who went missing. On the way through heaven he meets the clouds, the moon and the sun and experiences that friendship never ends. Following to that the little firebird returns to earth.
Authors: Zsolt Erdei and Katrin Burseg