There was a press conference for the upcoming WBC and WBA bantamweight title bouts on Tuesday in Osaka, Japan. WBA bantamweight champion Wladimir Sidorenko (20-0-2, 7 KOs) spoke about his opponent, WBA#4 Japanese challenger Nobuto Ikehara (27-1, 19 KO) saying: “He has the same peek-a-boo style as me, and he has physical power and also seems to have mental strength. I don’t take him lightly.” Asked about his advantage to the champ, Ikehara said: “I’m taller, if not more experienced in world title bouts. I’ll show my heart against the strong champ who has kept his title five times..”
The officials for the fight have been anounced:
The referee is Rafael Ramos (USA) with the judges Sergio Caiz (USA), Erkki Meronen (Finland) and Michael Lee (Korea). The supervisor of the WBA is Alan Kim (Korea).
With Taras Bidenko, Denis Boytsov, Egon Roth and Vladimir Tereshkin the undercard is loaded with more heavyweight fighters
Only 500 tickets remain for the highly anticipated WBA world heavyweight championship showdown between unbeaten champion Ruslan Chagaev (23-0-1, 17 KOs) and big-punching challenger Matt Skelton (21-1, 18 KOs) on January 19 at the Burg-Wächter Castello in Düsseldorf, Germany.
The WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev will defend his title against Commonwealth champion Matt Skelton (Live from 10.00 pm on ZDF). The unbeaten Champion Ruslan Chagaev (23-0-1 (17)) will face a very experienced opponent in his first title defence . After he the long break with no fight and no training, the Universum world champion Ruslan Chagaev is now back and has intensivley worked with his coach Michael Timm to be ready to return to the ring.
Since a impressive decision victory over the “Russian Giant” Nicolay Valuev in April 2007, “The White Tyson” had to cancel the unification bout of the WBA and WBO belts in a October against Sultan Ibragimov. Chagaev had to withdraw because of a serious illness.
The 6’3 challenger and Commonwealth-Champion Matt Skelton (21-1-0 (18)) comes to Düsseldorf with only one defeat in his 21 fights and has an impressive KO record. A tough opponent for Chagaev.
The full undercard was announced today and will include four additional heavyweight bouts. The Hamburg based WBA-Intercontinental Champion Taras Bidenko (24-2-0 (12)) will take on Cisse Salif (22-8-2 (20)) of Mali and defend his belt for another time.
Also, in an intriguing battle of unbeaten heavyweight KO artists, the Russian Denis Boytsov (19-0, 17 KOs) will have his third appearance in Düsseldorf and will collide with the Brazilian Thiago Vasques (8-0, 7 KOs).
Returning from a six-month injury break, unbeaten German heavyweight Egon Roth (18-0, 13 KOs) takes on Sandor Forgacs while the up-and-coming heavyweight hope Vladimir Tereshkin of Russia (5-0, 5 KOs) meets Remigijus Ziausys.
Rounding up the action of the big „Universum Champions Night“ in Düsseldorf will be world rated welterweight Jan Zaveck (23-0, 13 KOs) of SES Boxing who battles Pietro d’Alessio (5-6-1, 4 KOs) and spotlight boxing hopeful Igor Michalkin (2-0, 2 KOs) goes against Aleksandr Dunec in a light heavyweight bout.
The last tickets for this event are available at:
Universum Ticket Hotline: +49-40- 696 559 59
CTS-Eventim Hotline: +49-1805-5 70 000
Düsseldorf-Marketing: +49-1805-644332
and at all known Ticket Shops
TV-broadcast: from 10.00 pm on ZDF
WBO World champion Dzinziruk injured –
second title fight in Düsseldorf has been called off
The “Universum Champions Night” on January 19th in Düsseldorf has been hit by an injury of the unbeaten WBO champion Sergiy Dzinziruk. The WBO junior middleweight world title fight between Sergiy Dzinziruk (34-0, 22 KOs) and challenger Lukas Konecny (35-2, 17 KOs) has been postponed for the second time.
In the final phases of his sparring, Dzinziruk suffered a severe foot injury, and was told by doctors not to appear on the big fight card in Düsseldorf. The fight was previously slated for November of last year, however a Konecny training injury led to a postponement of the original date.
The bout will be rescheduled again the near future. Dzinziruk is looking for unification fights and has plans to invade the American market in 2008.