Newly crowned EBU heavyweight champ Robert Helenius handinjury was earlier in the week reported to be worse than it first indicated. Nothing is broken but there appears to be a hairline fracture in the right hand. It now appears that Aleksander Dimitrenko have relinquished his position as mandatory challenger and that means Dereck Chisora can get this position but if he can get the EBU to order an immediate rematch with Helenius is a different story.
The once powerful Universum continues to struggle but have according to Bild plans for shows in Hamburg or Stuttgart January 21 and March 24 in Hamburg. The team is still strong and middleweight Sebastian Zbik is mandatory challenger for EBU middleweight king Grzegorz Proksa while jr light Vitali Tajbert is in the same position for Ermanno Fegatilli. In both cases purse bids will be held next week.
Italian lightweight Carel Sandon, newphew of former middleweight champ Sumbu Kalambay, is reported to be in a coma after an attempt to committ suicide. Sandon lost to Samir Ziani in July in a big upset but was apparently already then suffering from depression.
EBU superbantam champ Kiko Martinez defends the title February 12 in Lyon, France, against Arsen Martirosyan. Martirosyan hails from Armenia but has been based in Lyon for a long time. Arsen lost to Martinez last year and it wasn´t even close so this is a big gamble from the promoters in Lyon.
German promoter, manager, trainer and ex-fighter Robert Rolle is looking to make a comeback January 27 in Berlin. Rolle, sidelined with eye problems for some time, is also the matchmaker for the show that also features heavyweight Erkan Teper.
Professional boxing was prohibited in Norway in 1980 but may now make a comeback of some kind. There will be a hearing in the Norwegian Parliament in January and with AIBA moving towards proboxing with their WBS series it´s unlikely that Norway will go against what in fact is an Olympic sport. Add to that Cecilia Braekhus´ success as a triple champ fighting in Denmark, Finland and Germany for Sauerland. However, some experts believe that the result will be similar to Sweden: professional boxing allowed but with special rules that makes it toothless and without public appeal.
Lightweight Sam Rukundo, 15-4-1, is now back in Uppsala, Sweden, after a spell as coach for the national team in Uganda. Sam represented Uganda in the 2004 Olympics but has been based in Sweden and London during his procareer. After four straight tough losses on the road Sam decided to take a break and got a position as coach for the Ugandan national team. He´s now looking to resume his career as a fighter with the position as coach still open.
Former WBO middleweight champ Armand Krajnc is now a trainer and is also looking to become a promoter. Armand have set March 24 as working date for his first show with Ystad in the very south of Sweden as the site. Krajnc trains Anna Donatella Hultin and newcomer Rastgar Ismaeeli and Hultin will headline the show.
Norwegian featherweight Andreas Evensen headlines P 3 Boxing´s final show of the year December 17 in Espoo, Finland. The show is staged at P 3 Boxing´s new gym where former EBU middleweight champ Amin Asikainen is headcoach. Evensen take on Spaniard Sergio Prado.
10.12 Euro news
