19.12.06 – By Per Ake Persson: WBA lightheavy champ Silvio Branco defence against Croatian Stipe Drews will take place February 24 in Oberhausen with supermiddle Jurgen Brahmer in the chief support along with GBU superfly champ Alesia Graf. WIBF fly champ Regina Halmich defends against Hungarian Reka Kempf January 13 in Halle/Saale with lightheavy Thomas Ulrich in the co-headliner going for the vacant EBU title against Rachid Kanfouah..
German welter titleholder Norman Schuster will be featured in a ten-rounder on the show. Quietly off the bill is EBU champ Vladimir Virchis´ defence against Dennis Bakhtov. Virchis will now make a mandatory defence against Luan Krasniqi.
OPI 2000 had a big weekend with mainevent fighters in three different towns in Europe. Up north, in Slagelse, Denmark, 40-year old veteran Stefano Zoff showed amazing stamina in fighting to a draw against Dane Martin Kristjansen. The fight was close, fought at a very fast pace but Kristjansen appeared to be scoring with the cleaner punches while Zoff was the busier. Kristjansen was down in the seventh and eighth rounds and British referee Mickey Vann gave Martin a break with his slow count and a time consuming wiping off the gloves before the fight was resumed. A protest perhaps? Or a rematch? “We are not so interested in either” says Christian Cherchi, “as Zoff will now be made mandatory challenger for the EBU title and we will go for that.”
In Hamburg middleweight Domenic Spada, behind on points, won the vacant WBC Int´l and EU titles when Mustapha Karagol was forced to retire due to an injured shoulder. Spada will now fight Mahir Oral and then possibly Karagol. Or, should Oral win Arena Box Promotion are interested in doing a hot all Turkish showdown between Oral and Karagol.
Then in Kempten cruiser Pietro Aurino suffered a controversial tko loss against Marco Huck for the vacant EU title. Christian Cherchi: “There was bad blood between the two from the already at the press conference. As the fight started they got close and it was dirty but the referee (Jean Louis Legland) only warned Aurino. Then in the second they were on the inside clinching with Huck holding and hitting, the referee didn´t get between them and Aurino headbutted Huck, who responded with a kick but it was only our guy that had points deducted. Aurino then made a bad thing in leaving in the ring and there´s no defence for what he said at the press conference. But we feel the referee must accept a lot of the blame for what went wrong. He should have been stronger right from the start.”
Neither the headbutts nor the kick appears to have landed on either man. The final decision to not allow Aurino to continue was made by supervisor Mariana Borissova, who went by the book in ruling Huck the winner as Aurino had left ring and thus retired.
Former WBC champ Markus Beyer announced during the weekend that he will continue his career. A Beyer vs Jurgen Brahmer matchup have already been discussed and seems like a natural.
Spanish superbantam Kiko Martinez tuned up before facing EBU ruler Bernard Dunne by outscoring Venezuelan Edinso Torres over eight in Dolores December 15. A Dunne vs Martinez fight could be happening in March.
In Bilbao, also on December 15, Frenchman Youkri Chentour won the vacant EBA welter title on a tko over late sub Tito Bestilleiro, who stepped on for Jon Trecu on a few days notice.
Manfred Wolke will take over from Teddy Atlas as trainer for comebacking former IBF lightheavy champ Henry Maske, who face Virgil Hill March 31 in Munich. Wolke trained Maske throughout his pro career in the 90s.