By Marco Bratusch
No less than three purse bids took place a few hours ago in Rome, Italy, regarding two major European (EBU) titles and one European Union (EU) belt.
A fourth purse bid was supposed to take place as well in order to determine where the fight between European Union (EU) welterweight champion Jordy Weiss (19-0, 3 KOs) and mandatory challenger José Del Rio (27-7, 7 KOs) was going to take place but last Friday the boxers’ handlers came to an agreement to stage the bout in France on a Europrom promoted card. The date of such bout has yet to be released though. Meanwhile, the durable Del Rio’s going to fight next Friday in a stay-busy eight-rounder against Victor Faniyan in Oviedo, Spain.
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No agreements could be reached for the remaining three title fights, which actually went to the public offers.
Sauerland Events won the bid to stage official challenger Noel Gevor’s crack versus European cruiserweight champion Yves Ngabu (19-0, 14 KOs), putting inside the envelope 61,350 Euros to top a Belgium’s Antwerp Boxing Promotion bid of 40,001 Euros. According to the winning promoter, the bout should take place on June 29 in Germany, with the specific hosting town and venue to be confirmed soon. Such contest will be producing a classic boxing theme of a technician, poised boxer versus a puncher, with both men still little known at the biggest stages who are now getting the chance to showcase themselves. Noel Gevor (23-1, 10 KOs), trained by his uncle Khoren Gevor, was expected to take on seasoned puncher Olanrewaju Durodola at the beginning of the year but finally the fight could not be finalized. The Armenian-born boxer’s only loss came against Polish hitter Krzysztof Wlodarczyk one year ago away, via split decision. Ngabu, the current 200-pound titlist, will be at his second defense of the belt and will be fighting out of his country for the first time in his career.
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European junior middleweight champion Zakaria Attou (26-6-2, 7 KOs) will defend his title in his homeland against official challenger Sergio Garcia (26-0, 13 KOs), from Spain, as French boxing club AS Poissy Boxe made a big offer of 62,000 Euros to promote the bout, outbidding other two offers of 50,115 Euros and 33,000 Euros made by Spain’s Maravilla Box and France’s Europrom respectively. Even that bout is supposed te be on paper another action fight as both men normally like to engage with their opponents despite being both physically tall and slender. The unbeaten 25-year-old Garcia is a busy aggressor while Attou can also switch to a more mobile, slick style of fighting at times. However, despite the big advantage in experience for Attou, it is fair to say that Garcia should represent a dangerous threat for Attou’s belt.
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The third bid which took place to stage the bout between European Union (EU) light-heavyweight Orial Kolaj (19-5, 12 KOs) and France’s Kevin Thomas Cojean (22-8-1, 8 KOs) has been won by Italy’s Roundzero with a 16,500 Euros offer to slightly top a 14,500 offer made by Asloum Boxing. As a result, the contest will likely take place in somewhere in Italy during the summer. Both men are basically brawlers so you should expect fireworks from this pairing. Kolaj won the vacant belt in Rome last February with a questionable unanimous decision at the end of another hard slugfest with very Spaniard Mustafa Chadlioui.
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Last Saturday in London, UK, 24-year-old Northern Ireland’s James Tennyson (22-2, 18 KOs) won the European 130-pound title at O2 Arena, with a came-from-behind fifth-round TKO victory over previously undefeated Martin Joseph Ward (19-1-2, 9 KOs), who was at the first defense of the continental belt. Tennyson also collected the Commonwealth title from Ward while successfully defended his WBA Int.l title from his side, in their multiple-title affair that enhanced the big Matchroom Boxing show. The contest proved to be an intense, two-sided scrap. Ward appeared to be in control early throughout the fight, using his faster hands, slick footwork and accuracy. The similarly built but physically stronger Tennyson however remained dangerous as he applied a steady pressure. In round two, Ward was going to the body sharply, so well that he banked it at the end of the round as he forced Tennyson to take a knee delivering a punch to the liver area from his own. The European challenger got up before the bell but Ward stuck to the same tactics even in the third round, this time with Tennyson managing to absorb it better and even landing some good, short blows from his side too while staying in the pocket. The confidence grew up for Tennyson in round four as he clipped Ward with a short left hook and the champion had to clinch. After this punch, the fight changed clearly with the challenger being now the new boss of it as he also paid back Ward with the same coins of the body attacks. In the fifth, Ward looked to come back to the basics, boxing at long range with straight punches but Tennyson found another flurry of hard hooks that decked Ward. The champion was still very hurt as he beat the count and another ferocious series of punches landed by Tennyson forced referee Victor Loughlin to halt the contest.
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The previous weekend in Douai, France, unbeaten southpaw Vincent Legrand became a three-time European flyweight champion as a widely outpointed late substitute Juan Hinostroza, from Spain. The Peruvian-born boxer was called in when Welshman Andrew Selby withdrew from the fight reporting a hand injury. Judges’ scorecards were 120-109, 120-108 and 119-109 for Legrand, who had previously won such belt in 2014 and 2016.
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World ranked boxers Enrico Koelling (25-2, 8 KOs) and Dominic Boesel (27-1, 20 KOs) will battle for Boesel’s European light-heavyweight belt on June 9 in an SES Boxing promoted card in Leipzig, Germany. The contest will represent a mandatory defense for Boesel, who won the title at his second attempt last March as he outboxed Serhiy Demchenko in Weissenfels. This mandatory fight was pretty easy to make up as Koelling became Boesel’s stablemate few months ago, joining him under the SES Boxing’s umbrella as he cut ties with Sauerland Events along with super middleweight Stefan Haertel. In another EBU sanctioned bout, Emre Cukur (10-0, 2 KOs) and veteran Roman Skarupa (28-7-2, 12 KOs) will face one another for the vacant External-European (EE-EU) super middleweight title. Jack Culcay, who recently inked with Errol Ceylan, might also be part of the bill fighting in an 8/10-rounder in his new weight class of middleweights.
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The aforementioned fighter Serhiy Demchenko (18-12-1, 12 KO) will box on May 19 in Charleroi, Belgium, against 25-year-old Russian-born Timur Nikarkhoev (17-2, 13 KOs) in an Alain Vanackere promoted card at local Spiroudome Arena.
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European Union (EU) super middleweight co-challenger Valerio Ranaldi (13-2-1, 7 KOs) suffered an unexpected TKO loss last Friday night in Rome, Italy, by the hands of young Serbian journeyman Miloslav Savic (6-2, 5 KOs). On paper, it was supposed to be a stay-busy six-round fight for Ranaldi in sight of his E.U. chance against Ronny Landaeta, scheduled for June 23 in Malaga, Spain. However, his Serbian foe proved to be a tough cookie and boxed brilliantly too, using upper-body movements and countering well. Savic dropped Ranaldi in round four with a counter right hand and then again at the end of round four following a series of body punches. The Italian got up but he looked both mentally and physically exhausted and as a result, he did not come out of his corner at the beginning of round five. Ranaldi will now very likely lose his position to fight Landaeta, according to the EBU rules.
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Italian boxers Pasquale Di Silvio (21-9-2, 6 KOs) and Gianluca Ceglia (14-3-1, 2 KOs) battled to a draw last Friday in San Marzano, south Italy, in a contest valid for the vacant European Union (EU) lightweight belt. It is said that everything is already set and sealed between promoters to deliver a rematch during the summer.
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British southpaw Frankie Gavin (25-3, 12 KOs) is the new mandatory challenger for recently crowned European welterweight king Kerman Lejarraga (25-0, 20 KOs), who picked the vacant belt in fashion last Saturday in Bilbao, Spain, scoring an impressive second-round TKO win over experienced Bradley Skeete. No date for purse bid has been set yet as parties are now on the private negotiations window.