14.09.06 – By Per Ake Persson: Danish supermiddle Rudy Markussen could according to a press release from Team Palle take on American William Joppy in a supporting bout to the WBC/WBA unification bout at 168 between Markus Beyer and Mikkel Kessler. The fight is not a done deal yet though. Also on the bill are feather Spend Abazi, lightweight Martin Kristjansen, heavies Steffen Nielsen and Claus Bertino, jr welter Dennis Holbaek, Ervis Masha and Thomas Povlsen.. There will also be two fighters from Sauerland Event added to the bill plus Romanian Lucien Bute, who of course first must get through tomorrow night´s showdown against James Obede Toney. Already on are Johny Jensen vs Thomas Hansvoll at cruiser and Anita Christensen vs Nadia Hockmi in a WBA/WBC/GBU female bantamweight showdown.
Referee for Kessler vs Beyer will be Italian Guido Cavalleri and the judges at ringside will be Riche Davies (UK), Tom Kaczmarek (US and Canadian Guy Jutras.
Mikkel Kessler is currently sparring with Russians Sergey Tatevosyan and Eric Teymour, who are reported to do a great job. Trainer Ricard Olsen felt that Kessler was a little flat after the morning workout and Mikkel is now sparring in the morning and do the roadwork and other gymwork in the afternoon. “I´m in the shape of my life” states Kessler.
There is still no TV deal set for this event but it could go out live on PPV in Scandinavia. ARD will televise Kessler vs Beyer in Germany, Austria and Switzerland but will be blocked in Denmark where many can see it through the local cablenetwork.
EBU supermiddle champ Mger Mkrtchian will now defend the title against Spaniard Gabriel Campillo at the Konti Kasino in St Petersburg. The date is likely to be October 5. Mkrtchian was originally set to defend the title against Russian Devi Gogiya September 28 but it was then moved to Kiev and scheduled for September 23.
Spotlight Boxing feature a solid matchup October 10 in Prague when Czech cruiser Rudolf Kraj take on Pavel Melkomian for the vacant WBC Int´l title. WBO I/C jr middle champ Lukas Konecny co-headlines and supermiddles Robert Stieglitz and Michal Bilak are also on the bill.
Sauerland Event promotes in Muhlheim an der Ruhr November 4 and feature several fights that were scheduled for the postponed Oldenburg show August 26 and the original September 23 event that was set for Muhlheim. At cruiser Marco Huck will take on Pietro Aurino for the vacant EU title, heavies Timo Hoffmann and Cengiz Koc clash in an internal eliminator and Henry Akinwande takes on Belgian Oleg Platov in a defence of the IBF I/C crown.
Ukrainian heavy Alexander Dimitrenko is in against Argentinian Gonzalo Omar Basile on “Universum Champions Night” October 28 in Stuttgart. Taras Bidenko, Int´l German heavy champ, fights German ruler Andreas Sidon and cruisers Grigory Drozd and Firat Arslan square off in a Universum/Spotlight Boxing “eliminator”. All ten fights on the show will be at cruiser or heavyweight.
German paper Bild Zeitung reports that heavyweight boxer Luan Krasniqi and manager Klaus Peter Kohl have buried the hatchet after a contractual dispute. Krasniqi was to have been featured as headliner for a planned Universum show September 16. The goal is now to get the former EBU champ and WBO challenger a world title shot next year.
Dutch heavy Richel Hersisia will be trained by Torsten Schmitz when he returns to the ring during the fall. Hersisia has been out with a shoulder injury since January.