All time great Evander Holyfield is now reportedly on for a fight in Las Vegas against Derrick Rossy April 24 which leaves his March 6 date open for a possible fight against Francois Botha - meanwhile Francois Botha vs Joey Abell February 27 in Kampala appears to be more likely as advance payments have been made, at least to Abell. However, the contract signed by “Minnesota Ice” reads he´s to fight for the WBFoundation title – against the WBFederation champ Francois Botha. The organisations are split but most of the people in the WBFederation are from the older Australia-based WBFoundation. The WBFederation title is by the way vacant.
The Hamburger Morgenblad lists today all 16 charges against Arena Box Promotion promoter Ahmet Oener. It´s indeed a long list revealing a very hot temper – but to label Oener a gangster as some media have done is to stretch things out. The ”Tony Sopranos” in the real world usually don´t just threaten – they take action as well. Bild writes that Oener gets off the hook with “a black and blue eye” - if found guilty that is. With this the Arena show March 27 in Hamburg is very much on as planned.
Anja Trabant is dead at the age of 38. A former Miss Berlin she was married to former EBU welter champ Michel Trabant for some years and also managed him. The two later divorced and ms Trabant worked in different businesses but above all she seems to have been drinking – and Bild Zeitung writes that her death was due to her liver and kidneys failing after years of alcohol abuse and for the last six weeks she was in a coma. She was the mother of two, 10 and 14, but neither of the kids lived with her.
Rudel Obreja, these days President of the Romanian Federation and in the 1984 Olympics one of the men Mark Breland defeated, has been suspended by AIBA for an eleven year ban on top of an existing 2-year ban and a 20,000 Swiss franc fine. As to why it appears that Obreja denounced the flagrant irregularities in the appointment of judges (he´s not the only one) in a tournament. The Romanian Federation also handles proboxing but that part isn´t affected in the case where AIBA threatens to exlude Romanian fighters from international tournaments as long as Obreja is President.
Jamie McDonnell, fresh off a big upset win over Ian Napa, is awarded with a shot at the vacant EBU bantam title against Jerome Arnould March 6 in France. This spot was originally Napa´s but as he lost Jamie gets the big chance.
EE-EU heavy champ Maxim Maslov defends the title against Bosnian Adnan Buharalija March 20 in Narva, Estonia. It´s voluntary defence by Maslov and it´s fair to say his promoters are very careful in choosing Buharalija as opponent.
Czech jr middle Lukas Konecny, promoted by SES in Germany, is now the mandatory challenger for EBU champ Ryan Rhodes.
While EBU heavyweight Albert Sosnowski is to make a voluntary defence against Audley Harrison April 9 the winner of that contest have Ukrainian Alexander Dimitrenko as mandatory challenger.
29.01 Euro News
