04.06.05 – By Tony Nobbs: Persistent Australian Nader Hamden will face local hero Stjepen Bozic for the vacant WBF Super Middleweight title tonight (Saturday) at the Dom Sportova in Zagreb, Croatia. WBF president Mick Croucher said that there has been a lot of interest in the fight with the 10, 000 seat building expected to be near full. “The Croatian prime minister is coming along as well as a lot of other dignitaries” said Croucher who travelled to oversea proceedings.
“Both are raring to go. Stjepen is an idol in Zagreb and is a formidable opponent. Nader, however, is quite confident and has the edge in experience, having faced world class opponents”.
The scheduled twelve rounder will be refereed by an Englishman with judges from Australia, Croatia and Austria.
“I think this fight will go the distance. All the officials will be given a pep talk about how the WBF run their shows and we will demand fairness, although I expect the officiating be fair anyway”.
At yesterdays weigh in both came in a kilo under the 76.2 kg (168 lb) limit.
Sydney’s Hamden, 31, sports a 38-3 record with 17 knockouts and is a former WBC number two rated jnr middleweight contender. He was undefeated in that division, holding the NSW State, Australian, OPBF and IBF Pan Pac belts at 154 lb before moving up to middle and eventually Super Middleweight. In his most recent outing in March he dropped a twelve round verdict in Canada to Otis Grant for the WBC International title and two fights back claimed the OPBF title in this divvy with an off the floor fourth round knockout of Arama Tabui.
Hamden’s first defeat came in June ’03 to Sam Soliman, the current IBF mandatory for Bernard Hopkins. While he lost a clear decision, Hamden became just the second man to deck the tough defensive wizard when he landed a flush right hand out of nowhere. Bozic, 30, comes into the ring at 16-1, 10 KO’s. He has won ten straight.