European Boxing Update

By Marco Bratusch

Italy’s Matteo Signani (27-5-3, 10 KOs) is the new mandatory challenger for crafty Pole and current middleweight titlist Kamil Szeremeta (19-0, 4 KOs), who already defended his belt twice, lately against Andrew Francillette in France. Signani, a former European Union (EU) champion who is a fireman in his day job, already got his chance for the European title when he took on fellow countryman Emanuele Blandamura for the vacant belt in 2016. The unbeaten Pole Szeremeta, an accurate a well-schooled boxer, was rumored to be pitted against former middleweight king Gennady Golovkin for his DAZN streaming platform debut, but so far nothing has been officially confirmed. If such fight will finally see the light, Signani will battle for the vacant European belt against the highest available contender. Meanwhile, the Italian stays at the window but busy, fighting in a six-round undercard bout in Florence, Italy, on April 26th, in a show co-promoted by Matchroom Italy and Opi Since 82, headlining local idol Fabio Turchi versus Jean Jacques Olivier for the WBC Int. title.

Unbeaten flyweight Jay Harris (15-0, 8 KOs) and Spain’s Angel Moreno will take on each other with the vacant European flyweight title at stake, according to an official release. The former champion Vincent Legrand (29-0, 17 KOs) relinquished his belt early this week as he seems no longer able to make to the divisional limit of 112 pounds. Legrand was previously scheduled to take on Harris as his official defense on June 1st in Cardiff, Wales, as Lee Eaton/MTK Global had won the bid for such bout. Now, the “Golden Boy” Moreno (19-3-2, 6 KOs) promoted by Maravilla Box, who is already known in the United Kingdom as a recent foe of WBC world champion Charlie Edwards, is stepping in as co-challenger on the same date and venue.

Bulgarian cruiserweight Tervel Pulev (13-0, 11 KOs) has vacated his European Union (EU) title due to medical reasons, according to official comunications. The unbeaten fighter was initially expected to take on Polish veteran Krzysztof “Diablo” Wlodarczyk (57-4-1, 39 KOs) as mandatory defense, however, the related purse bid went deserted twice, also because the Pole had a scheduled fight to attend against Alexandru Jur on March 23rd – a bout he then won on points.

Elliot Matthews (21-0-1, 9 KOs) has replaced Italy’s Mirko Geografo as official challenger for France’s beltholder Anderson Prestot (23-1, 12 KOs), in order to fight for the European Union (EU) middleweight title. Geografo, currently injured after a tough victory in a 8-round fight with Artem Karpets in February, is actually going to step back to junior middleweight, according to 3 Gloves Promotions. Elliott Matthews is an unbeaten 37-year-old boxer from Watford, UK, while the 28-year-old Prestot, a good technician, is an interesting new face in the division.

Former longtime European champion Cedric Vitu (47-3, 19 KOs), a high-pace, left-handed boxer, has been appointed as official challeger for European junior middleweight champion Sergio Garcia (29-0, 13 KOs), one of the notable revelations in the game of last months, who comes from his dominant performance against Ted Cheeseman at O2 Arena in London, UK, as voluntary defense. Vitu has recently come back with a victory over a journeyman, following his tough but competitive twelfth-round TKO loss against rugged fighter Brian Castano one year ago. The Vitu-Garcia bout will produce an intriguing European championship between two men who know how to box and like to let their hands go, with the fresh skills of Garcia at one side and the world-class experience of Vitu on the other, who, at 33-year-old, has already many fights on his milometer.

Promoter Maravilla Box, which won the related purse bid, informed they are going to stage the vacant European Union (EU) featherweight title at stake for Martin Parlagi (25-2-1, 14 KOs) and Carlos Ramos (10-1, 7 KOs) on June 16th in Madrid, Spain. The more experienced Parlagi, aged 31, has a suspect split-draw decision in his record suffered to well-considered Ukrainian Oleg Yefimovych in Kiev back to 2016. Ramos is the younger man with his 23-year-old as well as a southpaw boxer, he has never faced high-level opposition so far, but he is coming from a seventh-round TKO victory against Ibon Larrinaga for the national title.

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