By Marco Bratusch
Current European junior featherweight champion Luca Rigoldi (22-1-2, 8 KOs) will defend his title for the third time against official challenger Gamal Yafai (17-1, 10 KOs) on March 27th in Verona, northern Italy, at local AGSM Forum. Boxe Loreni and Matchroom Boxing Italy reached a deal weeks ago for this mandatory defense. The bout will be installed in a Matchroom Boxing Italy-OPI Since 82 co-promoted card to be streamed live on the DAZN platform.
The rich boxing event will also co-feature a vacant “interim” WBA lightweight title between Francesco Patera (23-3, 8 KOs), a former two-time European champion who relinquished his title days ago, and veteran boxer Devis Boschiero (48-6-2, 22 KOs), a former European titlist himself although in the lighter weight division of junior lightweights.
Boschiero, now 38, stayed busy in 2019 with two good victories against secondary opponents after falling short in late 2018 with a hard-fought split decision loss to Martin Joseph Ward in Florence, Italy. The Patera-Boschiero bout, should come out as a palatable action-fight, with Patera’s reach and youth – he’s 12 years younger than Boschiero – arguably being the keystones for him.
Also on that bill, Italian cruiserweight Fabio Turchi (17-1, 13 KOs) is expected to make his comeback fight after losing to Brit Tommy McCarthy last October.
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European Union (EU) super middleweight titlist Tyron Zeuge (24-1-1, 14 KOs), aged 27, is going to defend his title against mandatory challenger Dragan Lepei (19-2-2, 10 KOs), an Italian-Romanian puncher of Boxe Loreni stable. The purse bid was expected to take place today at EBU offices in Rome but parties finalized a deal last Friday to avoid the bid. Thus, Germany’s Agon Sport will promote the contest on March 21st at Bayerhalle in Wuppertal along with another European Union (EU) title in the middleweight division with unbeaten Bjoern Schicke (16-0-1, 7 KOs), against, possibly, a voluntary opponent as mandatory opponent Mark Heffron is said to relinquish such position. The EBU board has yet to grant a voluntary defense for Schicke, though, so let’s wait and see.
Plus, former WBA secondary beltholder Jack Culcay (27-4, 13 KOs), back in his natural weight class of 154 pounds, is expected to defend his WBO International title, with his handlers still working on a suitable foe at the moment.
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Spanish boxing venture MGZ Promociones reached a deal with Stefy Bull Promotions for Andoni Gago (22-3-3, 6 KOs)’s European featherweight title defense against Gavin McDonnell (22-2-2, 6 KOs). The two men share an impressively similar boxing record in terms of numbers and age (Gago’s 34, Gavin 33), however, the British challenger is the more experienced fighter of the pair with two competitive world-title challenges. The bout is going to take place on May 9th in Bilbao, Spain. Local puncher and 2018 hot prospect Kerman Lejarraga (27-2, 24 KOs) is expected to take part in the show, according to the promoter.