By Per Ake Persson: Dzinziruk: Sergey Dzinziruk, WBO jr middle champ but inactive since November 08, continues to claim that his contract with Universum is over, but what does Universum say? Well, today Universum have for the first time commented on the case and confirmed a contractual dispute but state that a court in Hamburg ruled in their favour already in November. Universum claims that planned fights in the US against Paul Williams and James Kirkland fell through due to a lack of interest from US TV and due to Dzinziruk´s financial demands. Universum do open the door for Dzinziruk to buy himself out of the contract..
Dzinziruk, an exellent amateur, turned pro with what was known as Panix Europe and was mainly fighting out of Poland but joined Universum in 03 after sitting out almost all of 02 due to promotional problems. He won the EBU title in 04 and the WBO crown in 05. His reign as champ has never been happy though and already in 07 there were rumors of contractual problems although he (or his opponent) officially was injured and he fought only once that year. In 08 he struggled against Lukas Konecny and Joel Julio, winning but was far from his true capacity. He´s spent 09 looking for that big breakthrough fight in America.
Champions Night January 9: Edison Miranda is out as challenger for WBO supermiddle ruler Robert Stieglitz due to illness but the defence will go ahead against an opponent to be announced. On the bill are three heavyweight fights with Manuel Charr taking on Owen Beck, Dennis Boytsov facing Kevin Montiy and in an internal eliminator Markus Tomala square off against Christian Hammer. Ina Menzer takes on Ramona Kuehne in the co-featured bout and defends the WBC, WIBF and WBO titles at featherweight.
Tajbert: German media writes that WBC Interim jr light champ Vitali Tajbert Saturday night got involved in a fight outside of a night club in Stuttgart and a 23-year old man suffered life threatening injuries. Not all details are clear yet, both Tajbert, the injured man and most witnesses were under the influence of alcohol but it appears that Tajbert got involved in an argument and one thing led to another and Vitali took out the 23-year old with a single punch. Stuttgarter Zeitung writes that Tajbert, a light punching, technically very skillful boxer, was known as a model athlete although he was caught for drunk driving a few years back. Tajbert is now charged with assault.
Vitali won the German amateur title seven times, the European title in 04, bronze in the Olympic games also 04 but had problems in the pros due to his lack of power and strength. He lost to Sergey Gulyakevich in an attempt to win the EBU title in 08 but beat Humberto Gutierrez to win the WBC interim title November 21 this year. As a boxer he is nothing short of exellent but again, you need a certain degree of power and strength to make it in the pros.
It now appears he face a lenghty layoff even if all details aren´t clear yet in what appears to be a tragic case for all involved. He´s promoted by Spotlight Boxing in Hamburg, a daughter company to Universum.
Monteyne: Former Belgian lightheavy champ Gilbert Monteyne have passed away at the age of 64. Monteyne compiled a 19-11-2 record in the early 70´s.
L P Promotion: L P Promotion begin the new year with a quantity wise big show in Nove Zamky, Slovakia, topped by a national title fight at cruiser between Boris Uhlik against Slavomir Selicky. L P himself, heavyweight boxer and for years the strong man in Slovakian boxing, Laszlo Paszterko is also on the bill and fight Janos Somogyi in what is a featured bout.