By Per Ake Persson: The undercard to Klitschko vs Thompson July 12 at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg will again be supervised by the GBO. Kronk will bring in cruiser Jonathon Banks and lightheavy Haxhi Krasniqi fights Steve Kroekel. In the chief support EBU jr middle champ Zauerbek Baysangurov defends the title against Ivan Gontsa..
French network Canal+ paid lightfly Brahim Asloum 750 000 EUR when he challenged then WBA champ Juan Carlos Reveco plus a bonus of 150 000 EUR in case of victory. Asloum won and was all set to defend the title July 26 against Giovanni Segura. However, Canal+ will now pay the champ 500 000 EUR and an 100 000 EUR extra as bonus should he retain the title. Asloum, his manager and trainer Louis Acaries are looking into suing the network for breach of contract. Acaries tells l´Equipe that Asloum have skipped four days of training and might pull out.
Belgian Jamel Bahki is out and Paraguayan Mario Alberto Lopez is in as opponent for WBO I/C middle champ Sebastian Zbik July 5 in Halle / Westfalen. Universum´s show still feature four fights scheduled for 12 rounds topped by Felix Sturm vs Randy Griffin in a very interesting rematch.
The WBA have scheduled a hearing on July 2 in Buenos Aires to try and resolve the complicated situation in regards of Ruslan Chagaev, again being sidelined with a long term injury, and Sauerland Event´s request along with Don King to have an interim titlefight scheduled – or to have the champion stripped.
The second Ben Bril Memorial goes ahead October 13 at the Carré Theatre in Amsterdam. This edition is headlined by Dutch heavy Richel Hersisia, who´s been inactive since last year. Middleweight veteran Raymond Joval, who headlined last year´s show, could also be on the bill.
Berlin-based Amadun Ltd made their promotional debut last this month and plan to do monthly shows at the Universal Hall. Amadun is also behind an idea that have accepted by the German Federation, BDB: a junior title for boxers 23 or younger.
The Francesco Pianeta vs Scott Gammer fight for the vacant EU heavyweight title have been postponed until August. It was scheduled to go ahead July 19.
Nicolae Linca, the only Romanian boxer to win a gold medal in the Olympics, have passed away at the age of 79. Linca beat Irishman Frederick Tiedt to win Gold in the 1956 Olympics at welter.
Former Italian heavy champ Mario De Persio have passed away in Rome at the age of 76. De Persio was a pro 55-58 and left boxing after winning the national title.