Former World Heavyweight Champion Sergei Liakhovich has been forced to withdraw from his planned fight with Johnnie White on the undercard of Tomasz Adamek vs. Kevin McBride on Saturday, April 9th at Newark’s Prudential Center Arena, Kathy Duva of Main Events announced today.
“Unfortunately, Sergei reported that he suffered a minor rib injury in training, yesterday, and his doctor recommended that he wait until at least mid-April before he engages in any contact,” she explained. “We had been looking forward to presenting Sergei for the first time in Newark and we are so sorry that his first appearance with Main Events will have to wait, but what is most important is that Sergei recover fully from his injury.”
Main Events is searching for an alternate date for Liakhovich and plans to make an announcement as soon as it is arranged.
Former world champion Rola El-Halabi injured in dressing room shooting
Friday night’s boxing card at „digibet Pferdesportpark Berlin-Karlshorst“ promoted by ARENA Sports-Promotion and Prime Time Events & Entertainment ended in a shock. Former WIBF and WIBA lightweight championesse Rola El-Halabi was shot down by her stepfather and former manager in the dressing room while preparing for an IBF championship bout which should have been the last fight on the night.
El-Halabi and two members of the local security staff were hit and injured by bullets before police could end the shooting and arrest the assassin. The incident happened after eight of the scheduled ten fights had already been finished.
In the most notable fights of the evening WBC Silver welterweight champion Selcuk Aydin and former WBA cruiserweight champion Firat Arslan scored impressive wins after longer layoffs. Aydin annihilated previously unbeaten Dzimtry Lubachkin from Russia in one round. Arslan stopped Czech journeyman Michal Bilak in three. German heavyweight prospect Erkan Teper showed a great performance against US veteran Robert Hawkins. Teper dropped his opponent twice with accurate uppercuts en route to a unanimous decision win after six rounds.
Local heroes Jennifer Retzke and Varol Vekiloglu could also score important wins to capture international titles. Retzke won the vacant IBF female light middleweight championship by outworking Eva Halasi over ten rounds. Vekiloglu stopped Muhammed Rasuli to win the vacant IBF East-West European light heavyweight championship.
“Of course, our thoughts and prayers are with Rola at the moment”, said Prime Time promoter Eva Rolle. “I sincerely hope that she will recover from this assassination attempt fast and return to the ring soon. Unfortunately, this dramatic incident overshadows the great performances in the other fights. We’ve seen a great night of boxing until it was ended in such a brutal way.”
WEIGHTS FROM BROOKLYN, NY
Joel Castillo 172lbs -Billy Ray Cunningham 167lbs
Mark Davis 129lbs – Ramesis Gil 130lbs
Leon Moore 123lbs – Felipe Almanza 121.5lbs
Ramadan Yasser 204lbs – Jose Mario Flores 202lbs
Frank Galarza 152lbs – Noel Garcia 150lbs
Tommy Rainone 149lbs – Arthur Medina 148lbs
Jonathan Arias 113lbs -Angel Cruz 116lbs
Donyil Livingston 159lbs – Greg Hackett 157lbs
Promoter: Rob Diaz Havoc Boxing Promotions
1st Bell: 7:30 pm est
Venue: Aviator Sports Complez
Broadcast: www.gfl.tv