By Marco Bratusch
At today’s EBU purse bids which took place in Rome, France’s Europrom outbid Italy’s BBT Production offering 17,400 Euros compared to 10,800 Euros earning the right to stage the vacant European Union (EU) middleweight title between Anderson Prestot (21-1, 10 KOs) and Mirko Geografo (12-1-1, 1 KO), who just relinquished his Italian 160-pound title. Both men come from the lower weight division and they are aged 27. Neither date nor venue have been released yet by the winning promoter.
In the second bid that occurred at midday, local time, at EBU headquarters, Malamine Koné’s MK Events won the right to stage mandatory challenger Hakim Zoulikha (25-10, 11 KOs)’s shot at Orial Kolaj’s European Union (EU) light-heavyweight belt with an offer of 22,000 Euros, edging a lighter offer made by Roundzero of rounded 15,000 Euros. MK Events is going to stage the fight on December 15th in Paris, France, according to official sources. Kolaj (19-5, 12 KOs) won the vacant belt last February in Rome with a highly-contested decision over Spaniard Mustafa Chadlioui, while Zoulikha lost the same crown in 2017 in Paris, France, via technical decision after five hard rounds against Serghiy Demchenko. Both men are basically mid-range brawlers.
Spaniard Abigail “Bebé” Medina, the former European junior featherweight champion, relinquished his belt earlier this week in order to take his chance against Tomoki Kameda for a WBC interim title as it was released during the annual WBC Convention in Kiev, Ukraine. This decision left Jeremy Parodi (42-4-1, 10 KOs), who was supposed to take on Medina on October 24th, momentarily without his European shot, waiting to have another co-challenger matched to fight for the vacant European 122-pound title soon. Last Monday, Italian EU champion Luca Rigoldi, a left-handed aggressor, was called in to fill the vacancy, and keenly accepted it. The vacant European junior featherweight title between Parodi and Rigoldi (18-1-1, 8 KOs) will be staged on November 17th in France.
Danish cruiserweight Micki Nielsen (25-1, 15 KOs) has replaced Frenchman Ryad Merhy in the mandatory position to fight European 200-pound king Yves Ngabu (19-0, 14 KOs). The unbeaten puncher from Roeselare, Belgium, is waiting in line to face is next opponent in order to defend his title for the second time since he captured it back in June 2017. The purse bid for the Ngabu-Nielsen bout has been set on October 17th.
Rugged British veteran Martin Murray (37-4-1, 17 KOs), aged 36, is next in line to face reconfirmed European middleweight king Kamil Szeremeta (18-0, 4 KOs), being now in mandatory position for this crack. At this stage of their respective careers, this bout looks to be a very interesting one and close to call. Parties are already in private negotiation window.
Due to a minor injury occurred to Italian Orlando Fiordigiglio, European Union (EU) junior middleweight champion Howard Cospolite (17-6-2, 2 KOs) is going to defend his belt against undefeated 24-year-old countryman Dylan Charrat (17-0, 4 KOs) instead, saving the show to confirm the date of October 24th in Marseille, France, for this contest. However, Fiordigiglio keeps his mandatory position to face the winner of such contest. The Italian boxer and Cospolite already fought one another in 2017 in Siena, Italy, where the local man won a disputed technical decision after nine hard-battled rounds.
Former European featherweight champion Dennis Ceylan (19-2-2, 8 KOs), from Denmark, and Spaniard Jesus Sanchez (9-1, 2 KOs) are set to fight again, this time with the vacant European Union (EU) 126-pound title at stake, after their first no-title meeting of last March where Sanchez scored a minor upset when he stopped Ceylan in the second round. Ceylan, fast-handed boxer, is looking to redeem himself after some personal matters occurred over last year. The bout is going to take place on November 24th in Denmark in a Sauerland Promotion boxing night.