By Per Ake Persson: David Haye have indeed signed to fight WBA Nikolai Valuev for a showdown at a place to be announced November 7. The WBA have yet to say ok though and there could be problems as mandatory challenger John Ruiz was supposed to get the winner of Valuev vs Chagaev II that was canceled. On the other hand Valuev had the right to do another voluntary defence but choose to fight Chagaev.
Abdu Tebazalwa, fighting out of Stockholm, Sweden, have stepped in at short notice to fight Patrick Hyland for the vacant IBF featherweight title July 25 in Dublin.
Belgian welter Jackson Osei Bonsu vows to be back in November to begin the road back. A year ago the hardpunching “Sugar” Jackson was close to a world title shot but lost to Pole Rafael Jackiewicz in a big upset. He came back with a win against Carlos Baldomir but lost July 11 a very important fight in Turkey to Selcuk Aydin after a war. Aydin, enormously strong, suffered a broken nose and other injuries but broke through and stopped Bonsu in the ninth.
German ligh theavyweight Thomas Ulrich have announced his retirement. Ulrich won bronze in the 96 Olympics and turned pro in 1997 with Universum. In 2001 Thomas was all set for the big breakthrough when he took on the Roadwarrior, Glencoffe Johnson, who with a German cornerman beat Ulrich in a big upset. Thomas won the EBU title twice but never quite made it although his come from behind last round knockout over Silvio Branco was a great win. Ulrich challenged Tomasz Adamek for the WBC title and Zsolt Erdei for the WBO belt but lost clearly both times. He goes out at 31-5
Romanian Florian Oanea was around 4-15-3 when he came back in 2007 after a few years out. He´s now 4-33-4 and what separates him from just another trialhorse is the number of disqualification losses. Oanea have lost eight (8) fights via dq while he´s only been stopped once in his 19 losses since returning. The catch: once he´s under pressure, tired or is hurt he finds a way to get ousted. This in return reduce medical costs as there is then no need to have a new MRI taken to get permission to fight in Italy (where he´s often seen).
Fight fans in Berlin have a free afternoon show at the “Kampfsportschule Hellersdorf” on Saturday. There are 13 fights scheduled topped by a fight for GBC Youth title between Bartlomiej Wancyk and Jurijs Ivanovs. On the undercard Swedish middle Vamehi Kartweli face German Daniel Kaefer while Danish heavy Dennis Rasmussen turns pro against Kenyan Adhiri Idris.
46-year old German heavy Andreas Sidon had his license revoked by the German – BDB – Federation after losing inside 47 seconds against Odlanier Solis in 2007. Since then Sudon have battled to get it back and scored a win this week in a German court. However, the BDB will appeal and hopefully we won´t see Sidon back again. Hopefully? Well, I´ve been ringside for the last three losses in Andreas´ career and do agree with the assessment that Sidon plays Russian roulette with his health if he continues to try and bring back yesterday inside the ring – and Andreas was never that much to begin with. And just for the record: the NC against Nikolai Valuev back in 99 was in fact a tko loss.