It will be Finnish and BBU champ Juho Haapoja that face ex-heavyweight king Lamon Brewster May 30 in Helsinki. On paper Haapoja, 9-2-1, is a huge underdog but Team Haapoja is full of optimism and feel there is a big chance for an upset. There probably is; Brewster looked very slow in losing to Wladimir Klitschko and in beating Michael Sprott but the only time Haapoja have fought anywhere near this level was when he lost to Dennis Bakhtov, a man he´s now sparring with. Kali Meehan is also on the show and face American Cerrone Fox.
Ruslan Chagaev, WBA champ in recess, have closed out sparring for the rematch against Nikolai Valuev. Again, Julius Long was among the chief sparringpartners – Long, 2,16 tall, has made a career out of sparring with future opponents to Valuev – and also Pedro Carrion and Raymond Olubowale. The technically very skillful Larry Donald have also been among the sparring partners.
Jr middle Zauerbek Baysangurov square off against Italian Cristian De Martinis May 30 in Kiev in the headliner of K 2 East´s “Comeback Show”. At stake is the vacant WBA I/C title.
Big heavy Alexander Ustinov is again on the undercard to a Klitschko fight and will take on a highly, yet to be named, regarded opponent June 20 in Gelsenkirchen on the Wlad Klitschko-David Haye show.
Polish cruiser Krzysztof Wlodarczyk will be looking for an immediate rematch against WBC cruiser champ Giacobbe Fragomeni following the somewhat controversial draw last weekend. Fragomeni was floored twice in the ninth round but the second knockdown wasn´t called by British referee Ian-John Lewis. That may have made a difference in the scoring as the round went to Wlodarczyk by 10-8 and not 10-7 as it could have been. This would have given the Pole a split decision win instead of a split draw.
EBU supermiddle champ Karo Murat´s defence – not officially announced – against Italian Lorenzo Di Giacomo will now go ahead in August in Germany.
Irish-based Cuban former amateur star Luis Garcia, 5-0 over soft opponents, could be in for a surprise against Gabriel Campillo, who´s a bit of a dark horse on the scene despite holding the EU title, May 28 in Baracaldo, Spain.
21.05 Euro News
