December 4, Schwerin, Germany:
Universum had to cancel the mainevent on their show at the Sport- und Kongresshalle when defending EBU heavyweight champ Alexander Dimitrenko suffered somekind of breakdown in the dressingroom and had to be taken to the hospital. Exactly what is wrong with Dimitrenko isn´t known but a bad case of food poisoning could be the reason for the sudden illness. Promoter Klaus Peter Kohl broke the news to the audience, press and TV just before the mainevent was to begin. His opponent Albert Sosnowski told German TV that he could tell at the weighin that Dimitrenko was a little nervous but didn´t go any further and wished his opponent speedy recovery. Albert and his team will get some kind of financial compensation but will not be paid in full.
On the undercard lightweight Eduard Trojanovski outboxed, floored and stopped aging Pole Matt Zegan in the third to win the WBO European title. Trojanovski, now 7-0, fought in the classical upright Russian style and beat his opponent to the punch time and time again. Zegan was shaken in the second and took a beating in the third before going down and as he got up the towel came in and it was over – Zegan is now 42-6-2 and is well past his best.
Big heavyweight Manuel “Diamond Boy” Charr had a lot of trouble with American spoiler Zack Page but won a majority decision after eight. It was scored 78-74, 78-74 and 76-76. Page wasn´t strong enough to get to Charr, who worked hard for his victory.
Former WBC cruiser champ Juan Carlos Gomez was back in shape and stopped veteran Harold Sconiers 27 seconds into the fourth. Sconiers was down twice in the third and once in the fourth.
Cruiser prospect Rakhim Chakiev won every round over tough and willing Pole Lukasz Rusiewicz in their eight-rounder. Chakiev could never hurt his opponent though but stated afterwards that it was a “good learning fight” and one couldn´t agree more.
Taras Bidenko, at one time WBA I/C heavyweight champ and ranked number six, scored a much needed win over Christian Hammer in a hardfought six-rounder that opened the show. The judges had it 58-56, 58-56 and 57-57. Hammer, the younger, bigger, stronger man was on top early but Bidenko knew a little too much for him and came on strong at the end.
News: It was not confirmed but it was whispered at ringside that WBO lightheavy champ Juergen Braehmer will fight WBA counterpart Beibut Shumenov in January in Kazachstan. It´s not a done deal though.
Ruslan Chagaev, Dennis Boytsov, Jack Culcay and Sebastian Zbik were all in attendance
04.12 Dimitrenko vs Sosnowski cancelled
