07.04.06 – By Per Ake Persson: WBA 147 lb champ Luis Collazo is set to defend the title May 13 against Ricky Hatton – or is he not? One who says he is not, at least not the way things are now, is Sauerland Event´s CEO Christian Meyer. “The WBA have as of April 6 not approved the fight”, states Meyer, who´s say he´s in daily contact with the organisation, “and as far as we are concerned, Collazo must take care of his mandatory defence which is against Oktay Urkal before taking on anyone else.”
Urkal became the WBA mandatory challenger last year after beating Frederik Klose. As Collazo was given permission for a voluntary defence, Urkal defended the EBU title in September of 2005 (W12 Maxim Nesterenko). He then relinquished the title as the WBA called for purse bids.
The purse bids took place October 17 with Don King Productions winning with an offer for 465 000 USD. Sauerland Event bid 230 000. There were then numerous attempts to stage the fight by DKP which then fell through for one reason or another – and they also tried to sell the fight to Sauerland Event but an agreement could not be reached.
Finally, Collazo vs Urkal appeared to be on for April 1 on the Brewster vs Lyakhovich bill but then DKP said that there were visa problems for Urkal, which was said to stem from Oktay´s fight against Kostya Tszyu back in 2001.
“But this was based on an opinion from the US Emigration and there were never any contacts made. At the same time DKP negotiated with the Hatton camp”, says Meyer and continues: “We hired our own attorney to look into the matter and he says there will be no problem for Urkal to enter the US and fight Collazo.”
“We have written to all parties involved about the problems”, says Meyer. “The purse bids make it legally binding for Collazo to fight Urkal, he simply can´t get around it. There have up until now not been any offers for step aside money or other agreement from anyone. We are waiting for a final decision from the WBA and are confident an amicable solution can be reached.”
Other news:
French fly Brahim Asloum is now to be trained by Dan Birmingham writes l´Equipe. Asloum, promoted by Michel Acaries, lost to WBA champ Luis Parra in December and it´s hoped that Birmingham, who trains Winky Wright, who fought for Acaries in the 90´s, will “revive” Asloum.
SES will have 13 fights on the show April 15 at the Maritim Hotel in Magdeburg. The headliners features supermiddles Natascha Ragosina – in a WIBF / GBU – titlefight and Robert Stieglitz, a possible Joe Calzaghe opponent, with Lukas Konecny, Taras Bidenko, Rudolf Kraj, Norman Schuster and others on the undercard. Supermiddle Malik Dziarra is off the bill due to an injury.
Local jr welter Eric Nazarian is likely to headline the annual Fernand Roelands Memorial May 1 in Brugge, Belgium.
Universum´s supermiddles Mario Veit and Jurgen Brahmer clash May 27 in Munich in an all-German crossroads fight for both men.
LA-based Swedish lightweight Shadi Hamsho, 6-0, is now trained by Freddie Roach and is looking to get back to action after a brief layoff.