Preview of the Primetime / Goldstar show in Kolding by Hisham Zaben
This card is shaping up to be a very special fight card stacked with good fights. First of all we have the main event between Jacob Bank vs. William Scull which I personally am looking very much forward to. This is a fight between an unbeaten prospect in Jacob Bank who has been tremendously impressive so far in his career facing off against a proven, and only once beaten ex. World Champion in William Scull. The sole loss on Sculls resume came against Canelo Alvarez so that is the type of caliber we are talking about here. The big question for everyone who will be watching this fight is: How good is Jacob Bank really? That question will be answered in this fight for sure. If he beats Scull, He will basically have recorded the best victory for a male Danish fighter in quite some time. And if he does win the fight against William Scull who in his own right managed to win at least four rounds against Canelo Alvarez, that will really mean that Bank is ready to step up and face a major title holder within 2026. However it goes, you have to give credit to Primetime Boxing for providing us with such a good fight for our entertainment.
Besides the Bank vs. Scull fight we have Dina Thorslund (23-0) coming back after some time off. I was more looking forward to the fight with Lila Furtado but unfortunately there has been a replacement opponent announced instead. Lila Furtado in my opinion was a perfect fight and excellent matchmaking because Dina will probably be facing Cherneka Johnson when the opportunity comes, which should be rather soon. Furtado was a big underdog against Dina and the odds for that fight was released but in my opinion Lila Furtado would have given Dina some very valuable and tough rounds which would further prepare Dina against Cherneka Johnson. Many fans seem to forget that when we saw Lila Furtado the last time, in Madison Square Garden, she was basically robbed against Ramla Ali in a fight where most ringside observers had her winning. I was there that night and the booing from the crowd when Ramla Ali was awarded the victory was very loud. So that right there proves her quality. Lila Furtado has some resemblance in the way she boxes to Cherneka Johnson, which is why probably that Primetime originally chose her. Very good matchmaking. Never the less. Dina Thorslund is still the most accomplished female Danish fighter and I am sure she will put on a great show. The new opponent is Almudena Alvarez. She has seven wins and three losses but has never been stopped before. I think Dina Thorslund has an excellent chance of becoming the first one to stop her and that would be very impressive.
The next quality name on the bill is Oliver Zaren who has built up a beautiful looking record of 18-0. I think Oliver is a very good fighter with elite boxing skills. He will face his toughest test to this day when he takes on former top amateur Mikalai Vesialou. A task I see Oliver coming through with flying colors.
Maher Khatib is another name on this event, unbeaten in four fights as a professional. The opponent in this fight shocked me to be quite honest with you. When I read it, I though immediately that something felt strange. He is fighting a guy called Pasquale Barile with a record of 12-4. First look at those numbers show nothing special nor impressive but it´s not always that simple. We have seen Barile the last time he came to Denmark and pulled of a major upset when he knocked out Danish super talent Elias Idrissi. That fight was shocking. No one expected that. I did not know of Barile until after that fight. I hadn´t scouted his record prior to the fight. Had I done that I could honestly have seen the red flags with this guy that made him ultra dangerous to face for a fairly untested guy like Idrissi . What am I talking about? His record on first glance, 4 losses and 12 wins look nothing impressive but when you look closer you could see that he was on a fantastic run, leading up to the Idrissi fight.
When they looked at his record they probably saw that he lost to a journeyman with a 2-3 losing record in the beginning of 2025 which tells you that he is a very limited fighter and thus an easy fight for someone like Idrissi, or say Maher Khatib. After that fight, he miraculously improved from being a low limit, powerless journeyman himself, to a dangerous, super aggressive power puncher. At that time in 2025 he was chosen as an opponent for Patrizio Santini, then 13-1 who also thought that Barile would be an easy fight. Instead Barile knocked him out in 3 rounds. After that he went away, again as the visiting fighter against an unbeaten Simone Vanni 9-0 who also thought he could beat Barile but was also knocked out in three rounds against him. After those two very impressive victories, Idrissi needed a late replacement and he was chosen. I do not know the circumstances on why he was chosen. But after the away victories I just mentioned, you can see that this was obviously a very dangerous fighter on a serious roll. He came to Denmark and he took care of business stopping Idrissi in two rounds.
After knowing all of this that we know about Pasquale Barile I found it very odd that they chose Barile as an opponent for Maher Khatib who really hasn´t been tested at all as a professional. If Khatib wins it will truly be a remarkable victory but there is a high likelihood that he will suffer the same fate as the other three guys Barile has faced the last 12 months. I think it also shows the confidence that they have in Khatib and perhaps he has what it takes to pull off the victory. This is yet another very good fight on this card that I commend Primetime for making.
Besides the all the names mentioned we also have Melissa Mortensen and Constantino Nanga, both of them unbeaten and very promising so this card is shaping up to be the best fight card I have seen in Denmark or Sweden since the Mikkel Kessler days and that we are happy for. So thank you to Primetime for this great event and see you all on the 31.st January in Kolding.
If you are interested in reading my exclusive breakdown and prediction for Bank vs. Scull fight, click the link: https://knock-out.dk/nyheder/jacob-bank-vs-william-scull-breakdown-and-prediction/29540/