Universum Box-Promotion has announced that former WBC cruiserweight champion Juan Carlos Gomez (47-2, 36 KOs) will fight on their big July 31 card in Hamburg. It will be “The Black Panther’s” first bout under the Universum banner in five years. “We are delighted for Juan,” said promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl. “He was with us all those years and always remained connected. I believe in him. He can tear up the heavyweight division once again.. He only has two defeats. Although he’s 36 years old, look at 39-year-old Vitali Klitschko and you can see how long you can still get maximum performance. He just has to want it. He must work closely with our training diagnostician. Everything will checked out. This is no picnic for Juan. It’s in his hands!.”
Gomez stated, “I had some problems with my old promoter, so I called my first promoter who made me a world champion. Today I can appreciate how Peter Kohl was always fair to me. Now I’ll be returning to my boxing home. I’m glad that he gave me another chance and I can box on July 31. I’ll be diligent and won’t disappoint my fans. I still want to fight the best. After all, I have less defeats than Wladimir Klitschko…” Gomez will be trained by Artur Grigorian, who stated, “Juan and I have a lot to to, but we’ll also have a lot of fun. His first words in the gym were ‘It’s once again Showtime!’ Great! We’re glad he’s home.” Gomez’ opponent will be named in the coming days.
Balzsay, Culcay return July 31 at o2 World Hamburg
Former WBO super middleweight world champion Karoly Balzsay and 2009 amateur world champion “Golden Jack” Culcay will climb into the ring on the July 31 Universum Champions Night at the o2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany. Balzsay (21-2, 15 KOs), who is now being trained by Michael Timm, will face Aziz Daari (24-14-4, 20 KOs) in an eight rounder. He is coming off consecutive deafeats to Robert Stieglitz (losing his world title) and Eddy Gutknecht but says he’s on the right track now with Timm.
Culcay (5-0, 3 KOs), the first German Amateur champion in 14 years will take on Ionut Trandafir Ilie (13-4-1) in a junior middleweight bout. “This will be the next level for me,” said Golden Jack. “But I’m hotly looking forward to the challenge.” Two world title bouts top the card with unbeaten WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik defending against Jorge Heiland and WBA super middleweight champion Dimitri Sartison defending against Khoren Gevor.
Universum Champions Night” on July 31 at the o2 World Hamburg
For more then 26 years Hamburg has been the home for Universum Box-Promotion and on July 31 another highlight will be staged. WBC interim middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik will headline the “Universum Champions Night” at the o2 World in Hamburg. Additionally the fans will see an all German championship battle with WBA super middleweight world champion Dimitri Sartison and Khoren Gevor.
The 28 year old Zbik (29-0, 10 KOs) was originally slated to face Khoren Gevor on July 17 Schwerin. There had been tension between Zbik and Universum after Zbik’s July 17 fight fell through, however those issues have been resolved and both are looking to the future. He will now face an “acid test” opponent to be named in the coming days. The WBC has finally signalled that champion Sergio Gabriel Martinez (45-2-2, 24 KOs) will have to face Zbik this fall, and both will take an interim fight. Recently Zbik defended his title in Magdeburg against the tough Italian Domenico Spada.
Sebastian Zbik: “We had a frank conversation and defined our common future. The future plans that Universum has for me, convinced me.” Universum vice Dietmar Poszwa added: „We still have a lot ahead for Sebastian. This is a good chance for a great fight in Hamburg, and then the clash with Martinez!“
Zbik is happy to fight in Hamburg and the big arena. He also can expect a big fan base supporting him in this next fight: “I’m looking forward to fight in this great arena and of course I’m hoping that a lot of my fans will make their way.”
German world title clash between Sartison and Gevor
Universum will also present another boxing highlight in the super middleweight division. In an Universum stable challenge WBA world champion Dimitri Sartison (26-1, 17 KOs) will face highly rated Khoren Gevor (31-4, 16 KOs).
Sartison who is trained by Magomed Schaburow became the WBA champion and successor of former champion Mikkel Kessler. Khoren Gevor is now training under Dutchman Roland Germerts in Amsterdam. For this third shot at a world title Gevor will step up in the weight division to super middleweight. In a sensational fight in 2007 he lost to former champion Artur Abraham and in 2009 he was again defeated by Felix Sturm. After returning successfully to the ring in January 2010 he will now have his final chance to become world champion. Dimitri Sartison: „This is a hard fight for both of us. I’m looking forward to this. Khoren is a strong challenger.“ Khoren Gevor: „I’m excited about Dimitri facing me. I’ll fight till they drop – as people expect from me.“
Additional match-ups will be announced within the next days. ZDF will televise the world title fight of Sebastian Zbik live with highlights of the fight Dimitri Sartison vs. Khoren Gevor afterwards.
Important information: As this will be a Charity auction the tickets will go on sale this Saturday June 26. More information will be announced shortly. Tickets are available at:
Universum Ticket Hotline: +49-40-696 559 59
CTS-Eventim Hotline: +49-1805-57 00 00
o2 World Hamburg: +49-1803-20 60 60
or at www.boxing.de