This Saturday (April 26th) Cuban heavyweight sensation Odlanier Solis stops by in Trabzon (Turkey) on his way to the USA. Before giving his US debut on the undercard of the “Night of the Rising Stars” in Primm, Nevada on May 17th (presented by ARENA Box-Promotion and Gary Shaw Productions, LLC – featured on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark”) the 2004 Olympic gold medallist has to go past unbeaten Georgian prospect Mamuka Jikurashvili (20-0, 14 kos)..
“I don’t care about my opponents’ records”, states three-times world amateur champion Solis. “I want to become world champion which means that I have to beat anybody who comes my way. This ‘vili’ won’t stop me on my way to the top.”
And what does Solis think about fighting twice in only three weeks? “I’m professional boxer”, he answers. “So boxing is what I want to do and what I do best. Just bring on the opponents – I’m always ready to go!”
The ARENA-show in Trabzon will be headlined by the WBC international welterweight championship clash between local hero “Mini-Tyson” Selcuk Aydin and former champion Lucky Lewele from South Africa. The undercard also features 2004 Olympic silver medallist Atagün Yalcinkaya and unbeaten prospects Konstantin Airich, Yakup Saglam and Tino Groß.
Former WBA light heavyweight champion Stipe Drews was proud to see his friend Ivica Bacurin winning his pro-debut for ARENA Box-Promotion at Kulturhalle Ochtendung. Former Croatian amateur star Bacurin impressed the crowd with a strong performance dominating his opponent Ben Nshfoah (2-0-0) in all four rounds taking home a one-sided decision victory.
“Ivica showed great effort”, stated ARENA-CEO Ahmet Öner. “I am sure that he will make his way.”
Middleweight Mustafa Karagöllü won even more convincingly stopping Russian Alexander Lykov by tko in the third taking his record to 12-1 (5 kos). German super middleweight prospect Sebastian Sonntag had some more problems against experienced Ata Dogan but still managed to take home his fifth victory in his fifth pro-fight by unanimous decision after 6 rounds.