Middleweight contender Benjamin Simon suffered a serious hand injury in the last week of sparring for his IBF elimination bout against Sam Soliman (scheduled for April 1st in Berlin). „The capsule of Simon’s left hand is bruised with odema in tenderparts and an intraarticular haematom“, said Dr. med. Robert Stelzer adding that Simon will be out of training – and fighting, of course – for „at least 6 – 8 weeks“..
„Iron Ben“ recognized that something was wrong when he had to stop training due to a terrible pain in his left hand followed by an immediate swelling. Still the IBF intercontinental champion was shocked when he heard the diagnosis: „This is simply terrible“, says Simon. „I had hoped that they can do something to make sure that I can fight. I am in perfect shape and very well prepared for Soliman. I want this fight. This is my big chance.“
Simon’s trainer and manager Robert Rolle adds, „Of course, this is a shock for Ben. I will do my best to help him deal with this injury. This is sport. Injuries can happen any time. It’s a pity because I am sure that Ben would have knocked Soliman out which would have taken us one step closer to challenging IBF champion Sebastian Sylvester. But there’s nothing we can do about it at the moment. We hope that the hand heals as fast as possible so we can find a new date for the fight against Soliman.“
Despite Simon vs. Soliman being cancelled due to the injury, ARENA Sports-Promotion and Prime Time Event & Entertainment will still present a great night of boxing this Friday (April 1) at „digibet Pferdesportpark Karlshorst“ in Berlin.
Former WBA cruiserweight champion Firat Arslan and reigning WBC silver welterweight champion Selcuk Aydin will replace the main event in respective eight rounders. Arslan returns to the ring after a nine months lay off following his loss to Steve Herelius in a world title fight last July in Stuttgart. In Berlin, Arslan (29-5-1) will face Michal Bilak (19-15) from Czech Republic.
Selcuk Aydin’s last fight was his title win against „Jo-Jo“ Dan in Istanbul in June 2010. The Turkish superstar is still waiting for his shot against WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto. On April 1st Aydin (20-0) faces unbeaten prospect Dzimitry Lubachkin (18-0) from Belarus.
In addition to Arslan and Aydin, ARENA-CEO Ahmet Oner presents his promising heavyweight prospect Erkan Teper (4-0) against US veteran Robert Hawkins (23-16).
„Of course, we wanted to present the elimination fight between Simon and Soliman but after the injury we have to make the best of the situation“, says promoter Ahmet Oner. „I think Selcuk Aydin, Firat Arslan and Erkan Teper are excellent fighters who will surely show great fights in Berlin. On top of that we have six international title fights on the card!“
Ondrej Pala (28-2) from Czech Republic faces Oleksyi Mazikin (16-5-2) from Ukraine for the vacant WBO European heavyweight championship. Alexander Petkovic (39-4-4) from Munich takes on Harry Duiven jr. (15-7-1) from Netherlands for the vacant IBF East-West Europe heavyweight championship. And unbeaten German contenders Yakup Saglam (27-0) and Michael Wallisch (6-0) fight for the German International heavyweight championship.
Local hero Varol Vekiloglu (14-2-1) faces Muhammed Rasuli (13-3-3) for the IBF East-West Europe light heavyweight title.
And promoter Eva Rolle (Prime Time Event & Entertainment) presents two female world championships featuring Rola El-Halabi (11-0) vs. Irma Adler (13-1) and Jennifer Retzke (10-1) vs. Eva Halasi (7-3).
The action packed show at „digibet Pferdesportpark Karlshorst“ starts on Friday (April 1) at 6.15pm. Eurosport will broadcast the main events live starting at 9.00pm local time.