Belgian welter Jackson Osei Bonsu returned to action November 11 in Deurne and the former EBU champ knocked out Brazilian Andre Marcos Nascimento in three. -Jackson was very hungry and did the right things at the right time, says trainer Renald De Vulder who also in effect heads the promotional team behind “Sugar” Osei Bonsu. Next up is a fight on the annual show in Izegem December 25. The first big goal for Jackson is to get a shot at the EBU title currently held by Matthew Hatton.
Ruslan Chagaev, former WBA champ and now mandatory challenger for David Haye, comments in a press release on David Haye´s onesided win over Audley Harrison and states it wasn´t worthy of world title fight. Chagaev have a point – at the same time one have to wonder how attractive a Haye vs Chagaev matchup is especially in view how outboxed Ruslan was against Wladimir Klitschko. A further problem for Chagaev is that he is very unlikely to pass a medical in the UK due to the positive hepatitis test that “killed” the rematch against Nikolai Valuev in Finland last year.
It´s heating up in Helsinki for the megashow November 27 at the Hartwall Arena. Over 5000 tickets are already sold and a crowd of somewhere between 8-10 000 is expected. There will be 28 TV cameras on hand with five different TV companies on hand for the event that is a co-promotion between Sauerland Event, P 3 Boxing and Live Nation. Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham headline but the big fight for fight fans in Sweden and Finland is of course the heavyweight showdown between Robert Helenius, EU champ, and challenger Attila Levin. In the third 12-rounder EU jr welter king Ville Piispanen defends the title against Spaniard Daniel Rasilla. It´s noteworthy that Finland´s biggest boxing star, Amin Asikainen, is not on the bill. P 3 Boxing have big plans for the former EBU middleweight champ who will headline a show early next year. Asikainen sold close to 10 000 tickets for his fight against Khoren Gevor but suffered an upset loss.
Danish paper BT reports today that the battle between oldtimers Brian Nielsen and Evander Holyfield will go ahead March 5 next year in either Herning or Copenhagen. Nielsen is still in rehab training after knee surgery and not even he himself is certain the knee will hold up once serious training begins. The fight is not confirmed yet by Sauerland Event. How big the fight is on the Danish market is also an open question. “Super” Brian was in his day a superstar of the likes seldom or never seen in Denmark and Scandinavia and Holyfield is of course a legend in his own time. Still, both have their best days at least a decade back and Nielsen was on a downhill slide even when he fought Mike Tyson in 2001.
15.11 Euro News
