PERSSON'S EURO NEWS
EBU cruiser champ Alexander Frenkel headlines a Sauerland show in Bamberg February 26. Opponent is to be announced. Frenkel won the title in September with a ko win over Enzo Maccarinelli and appears to be the next big star to emerge from Team Sauerland. Trained by Ulli Wegner Frenkel, a power puncher with either hand, have come back from a series of handinjuries and is now more dangerous with the left hook than the right hand. Co-headlining is the Nordic Nightmare, EU heavyweight champ Robert Helenius, also trained by Wegner.
It became official yesterday: Evander Holyfield face Brian Nielsen March 5 in Copenhagen. It´s a PPV event in Denmark priced at about 50 EUR - the venue is the 2000-seater Koncert Hall in Copenhagen. Nielsen will be traíned by Karsten Roewer, who got to know Nielsen in his amateur days at Traktor Schwerin in Germany. Nielsen will have exellent - too good perhaps - sparring for the fight, his first since 2002, in among others Kubrat Pulev and Edmund Gerber.
EBU jr middle champ Lukas Konecny retained the title with an unanimous decision over Armenian challenger Hamlet Petrosyan earlier this evening at the Sparta Arena in Prague. The judges had it 119-109 twice and 118-110. On the undercard WBFed middleweight champ Kresnig Quato lost a unanimous decision over twelve to Karama Nyilawila. Lightheavy Haxhi Krasniqi outscored local man Jindrich Velecky over eightt. Heavyweight Ondrey Pala stopped Ergin Solmaz in three,
Cuban cruiser Yoan Pablo Hernandez face Ali Ismailov on the undercard to Huck vs Lebedev December 18 in Berlin. It´s a WBA eliminator with the winner to face the winner of Guillermo Jones, the "real" champ and interim ruler Steve Herelíus. A Jones vs Herelius showdówn
The Evander Holyfield vs Brian Nielsen fight appears to be on and Sauerland Event will hold a press conference tomorrow in Copenhagen with both the 48-year old Holyfield and the 45-year old Nielsen, still on the mend after knee surgery, on hand. According to sporten.dk Holyfield vs Nielsen is on for March 5 of next year in Copenhagen. While the fight has been called a freak show it´s obvious that interest is big at least in Denmark. However, Nielsen have not yet began serious boxing training or sparring and his bad knees may still let him down. How well Holyfield is doing is also an open question but at least he´s been active and his decline has been there for all to see while Nielsen retired in 2002 and hasn´t fought since.
Russian heavy Alexander Povetkin continues his way back to title contention December 18 in Berlin on the undercard to Huck vs Lebedev and take on American Nicolai Firtha. Povetkin is currently training in Red Bank, NJ, under trainer Teddy Atlas and spars with among others Monte Barrett.
The undercard to Lukas Konecny vs Hamlet Petrosyan (EBU 154) December 3 in Prague feature WBFed middleweight champ Kreshniq Quato defending the title against unknown Tanzanian Karama Nyilawila. Lightheavy Haxhi Krasniqi face Czech Jindrich Velecky on this SES promoted show.
Arthur Abraham was right on the money when he in Bild stated he was smaller than the other supermiddles in the Super Six Tournament but the problem isn´t that he is too small. It´s rather that he never developed the talent he did have but found out that he was stronger than almost any other middleweights and could take out most with his big hooks. Add to that a somewhat lazy attitude towards training and the result is a fighter who just never learned how to fight taller, bigger opponents. According to Bild "King" Arthur have earned 10 million EUR during his career so feel free to avoid shedding any tears. His chances of beating Andre Ward are very small and the question is if he goes throug with the fight.
Universum stick with the big boys on the undercard to Dimitrenko vs Sosnowski December 4 in Schwerin heavyweights Manuel Charr, Christian Hammer and Juan Carlos Gomez on the bill along with cruiser Rachim Chakiev. Hammer face former WBA I/C champ Taras Bidenko, a former Universum fighter at one time highly ranked, Gomez marks time against Harold Sconiers, Charr face tricky spoiler Zack Page while Chakiev is in against Lukasz Rusiewicz. Polish lightweight veteran Matt Zegan round out the bill with a fight against Eduard Trojanovski.
Timur Ibragimov weighed in at 101,8 kg / 224,5 lbs at tonight´s weighin for tomorrow´s showdown against Jean Marc Mormeck, 97,75 kg / 215,5, lbs, at Halle Carpentier in Halle. Ibragimov have been training in Stockholm with Attila Levin for the fight. Attila was stopped in two against Robert Helenius in Helsinki Saturday night and trainer Luis Lagermann left Helsinki Sunday morning to travel to Paris to handle Ibragimov. Mormeck also promotes the show that features unbeaten feathers Khedafi Djelkhir and Anthony Arimany in a fight for the vacant French title.