By Per Ake Persson: January 24, Riesa, Germany: EBU cruiser champ Marco Huck stopped challenger Geoffrey Batello in the third of a wild brawl that headlined Sauerland Event´s show at the Erdgas Arena. Huck took some time to get started but once he got going he had Batello under pressure mixing good punches, wild misses and dirty moves. In the third Huck rocked Batello with a left hook and later in the round knocked down his opponent with a big right uppercut. Batello survived the count but as Huck reloaded again the fight was stopped at 2.57..
Enad Licina defended the IBF I/C cruiser title with an eighth round stoppage of tough Colombian Jose Luis Herrera. Licina was floored by a right late in the first but came back to outslug his opponent in blistering exchanges in the second and third rounds. It was a hard fought fight throughout but Licina’s better conditioning saw him through and in the eighth he floored Herrera with a right. The Colombian was up and allowed to continue but Licina followed up and the ref stopped the fight at 2.14. After seven Licina was ahead on scores of 67-65 twice and 67-66.
Alexander Abraham retained the EE-EU jr middle with a unanimous decision over Serbian Nikola Stevanovic. Stevanovic was floored in the eleventh and must have been close to being stopped. But for most part of the fight Nikola gave as good as he got and had Abraham under pressure in the sixth. The judges scored 118-111 and 118-110 twice – a scoring that looked generous to the champion. The crowd booed the champion and cheered the challenger – Alexander´s posing and somewhat arrogant way won´t win him any fans.
Cruiser Martin Kempf unanimously outscored Croatia Josip Jalusic, a late sub who came in the day of the fight, over eight. Jalusic, a dangerous spoiler, had his moments but Kempf outboxed him and was a clear winner at the end.
Jr middle Koko Murat was too big for Belgian Bjorn Fiaert and won a unanimous decision after eight good rounds of boxing.
Artur Hein was down in the last round but still beat Blanchard Kalambay over six, cruiserweights.
Big heavy Jens Krull, a “Valuev jr”, stopped much smaller Hungarian Ferenc Zsalek in the second of a scheduled four-rounder.
Euro Boxing News:
Danish supermiddle Mads Larsen is asking for one million EUR to fight WBA champ Mikkel Kessler. Sauerland Event, who have Larsen under exclusive promotional contract, is also asking for compensation for the use of their fighter. Too much? -Make a counter offer then, says Sauerland´s CEO Chris Meyer, who then adds that he´s only been conveying the message from Mads to Team Palle.
-We can negotiate of course but it takes two to do that and I haven´t heard from Mogens Palle yet, says Meyer.
Meanwhile Danish media writes that Kessler wants the fight at latest April 1, something Palle says is impossible.
-I have also contacted Hennessy Promotions about having WBC champ Carl Froch making a voluntary defence against Larsen in April, says Meyer.
Ekstrabladet in Denmark wrote that Kessler-Larsen is on the verge of going “nine-ten and out” and there seems indeed to be problems in making the Danish megafight.
Trainer of the year in Germany: Ulli Wegner, fighter of the year: “King” Arthur Abraham – both recieved their awards in the ring in Riesa tonight.
Supermiddles Vitaly Tsypko and Librado Andrade might fight an IBF eliminator possibly in April.
Cecilia Braekhus and Vinni Skovgaard for the vacant WBC female welterweight title is in the works for March 14 in Kiel but the parties involved, Sauerland Event and Palm Promotions have not yet agreed on terms.
Oldtimers Peter Rieger and Saoul Mamby might clash later this time in Germany with the GBC veteran title at stake. Both men are around 60 – Rieger was a very good amateur in what used to be in East Germany.