By Marco Bratusch
Last week in Rome, Matchroom Boxing won the scheduled purse bid held at the EBU headquarters to determine which promoter was going to stage European junior lightweight champion James Tennyson (22-2, 18 KOs)’s defense against official challenger Samir Ziani (27-3-1, 5 KOs). The powerful British firm offered 81,000 Euros to top another offer of 70,000 made by Blagnac Boxing Club. The 24-year-old hitter Tennyson won the continental belt at the beginning of May when he stopped the former champion and countryman Martin Joseph Ward in round five, ending a spirited contest where both men visited the canvas. That will be Ziani’s second attempt to the European 130-pound title after his close unanimous decision loss to Guillaume Frenois in 2016.
Hard-punching European welterweight kingpin Kerman Lejarraga (25-0, 20 KOs) will be defending his belt again in his courtyard when he will take on southpaw Frankie Gavin (25-3, 15 KOs) on November 19 in Bilbao, northern Spain. Gavin is the mandatory challenger for Lejarraga’s 147-pound belt and will be his second British foe in a row after the impressive victory he grabbed over Bradley Skeete last April to win the vacant title.
In the junior welterweight division, European champion Anthony Yigit (21-0-1, 7 KOs), from Sweden, and mandatory challenger Franck Petitjean (22-4-3, 5 KOs) will square off on November 17 in Levallois-Perret, France, in an MK Events boxing night. The fairly distant date will represent the third defense of the belt for the skilled 26-year-old southpaw promoted by Sauerland Events.
At the last available moment, Finnish promoter Pekka Maeki and Malamine Kone’s MK Events finalized a private deal to stage the European lightweight bout between champion Edis Tatli (30-2, 10 KOs) and challenger Marvin Petit (23-1-1, 11 KOs) in Savonlinna, Finland, on August 18, skipping the upcoming purse bid. Tatli is currently holding his second reign as continental 135-pounds king after he took back the belt from Francesco Patera in their anticipated rematch last December. Petit is a young, determined action-fighter and the bout is expected to be interesting.
The awaited clash between European cruiserweight champion Yves Ngabu (19-0, 14 KOs), am unbeaten puncher, and his challenger Noel Gevor (23-1, 10 KOs), a conservative rangy boxer from Germany, was forced to be pushed back to September with the contest no longer taking place on June 29, as Ngabu is momentarily unable to box.
Italian cruiserweight Fabio Turchi (14-0, 11 KOs), who is leaving his former Italian promoter to find a new home at OPI Since 82, is scheduled to fight on July 6 at Teatro Principe in Milan, northern Italy, likely facing journeyman brawler Yassine Habachi (5-10-4, 3 KOs) in a tune up bout. Habachi is basically a blown up light-heavyweight but he always comes to fight, although that can be just the proper feature the showcase the skills of a short-distance hitter like the 24-year-old Turchi. The new promotional move means that Turchi’s adventure in the United States may likely be over, talking the current state of his career.
Recently crowned European super middleweight titleholder Robin Krasniqi (48-5, 17 KOs), who won the vacant belt with a razor-thin split decision over Stas Kashtanov (36-3, 21 KOs) at the beginning of the month in Bad Toelz, Germany, is scheduled to take a volontary defense of his belt next October.
Ray Events promotions will be staging the European Union junior featherweight bout at stake for local 22-year-old Sebastian Perez (9-0-1, 2 KOs) and one-year younger Jacob Barreto (10-1, 4 KOs), from Islas Canarias, Spian. The all-Spanish clash will take place next September near San Sebastian, northern Spain.
European Union (EU) light-heavyweight challenger Kevin Tomas Cojean (22-9-1, 8 KOs) suffered an unexpected TKO loss last weekend by the hands of Georgian jounrneyman Levan Lukhutashvili and thus he has been removed from his position to fight titlist Orial Kolaj (19-5, 12 KOs). Another mandatory challenger will be named soon by the EBU to be matched with the Italian-Albanian brawler.