Arena Box Promotion and German network Sat 1 will according to Bild Zeitung join forces not only for televising shows but also for a reality TV show called “Fight of my Life”. Viewers will follow heavyweight Steffen Kretschmann as he prepares for the rematch with Dennis Bakhtov now set for March 27 (site to be determined). Bakhtov took out Kretschmann in one round this past summer for the only loss on Steffen´s record and a win in the rematch is crucial for Kretschmann´s continued career. Also on the March 27 bill is Cuban heavy Juan Carlos Gomez, back after the loss to WBC king Vitali Klitschko. Sat 1 and Arena will announce their plans at the classic bar “zur Ritze” on Reeperbahn in Hamburg on Tuesday. It was at Ritze that former EBU and WBC jr middle champ Eckhard Dagge trained and drank. Today the inner room is like a museum not only over the late Dagge´s career but over German boxing past WWII as well with posters, autographs and championships belts on the wall. Downstairs the gym is still open and the entrance remains unchanged.
Sweden will continue with its special rules for professional boxing the Administrative Court in Orebro ruled today after the Swedish Federation had appealed a decision from the Martial Arts Delegation not to allow fights longer than 12 minutes. However, the court and MAD itself opened for special permission to a specific fight with specific fighters on a specific show where the doctors will have a major say if a fighter is ready for fights over longer distances than 12 minutes. There was an attempt to do this in 2007 for the second Aldo Colliander vs Robert Daniels fight but it was never tried. Should the fight fall through and there´s a need for a subsitute all the work have to be done again so it won´t be easy. The Federation will appeal today´s decision to a higher court. Complicated? Well, a major reason for this is the Martial Arts Law that came in 2006 and where professional boxing after being prohibited since 1970 ended up in the same bag as MMA, K 1, Muay Thai etc and the term “acceptable safety” is crucial.
15.01 Euro News
