By Marco Bratusch
The vacant European bantamweight title saw its related purse bid today at EBU offices, with two offers received for staging the contest. France’s Europrom won the bid offering 26,001 Euros against 16,200 Euros put in the envelope by Chris Sanigar Promotions, from the United Kingdom. Consequentially, this rematch bout between co-challengers Omar Lamiri (18-2, 8 KOs) and former IBF world title champion Lee Haskins (35-4,14 KOs), who faced one another in February 2015 with the Brit emerging as the winner, will be taking place in France in a date yet to be announced.
Welterweight Ahmed El Mousaoui decided earlier this week to leave his co-challenger position for the vacant European 147-pound title against unbeaten 25-year-old Kerman Lejarraga (24-0, 19 KOs), despite a noteworthy offer made by the Spanish promoters of more than 81,000 Euros for staging such bout on March 24 in Bilbao, Spain. This situation forced the EBU to seek through its divisional rankings for the highest available opponent, receiving a positive nod from once-beaten, rangy British Bradley Skeete (27-1, 12 KOs), ranked #6. The new bid has been set for March 5, whether the parties had not reached a deal for this date.
Friday night in Rome, the vacant, multiple-time delayed, European Union light-heavyweight title at stake for co-challengers Orial Kolaj (18-5, 12 KOs) and Mustafa Chadlioui (11-2-2, 7 KOs) will be finally taking place at Palazzetto dello Sport. Round Zero is going to promote the boxing night, featuring other two six-round bouts in the prizefighting portion that follows-up WSB Day-Two, with Italian Thunder versus France Fighting Rooster. The vacant EU title should deliver a grudge scrap as both Kolaj, the local fighter, and the Spaniard Chadlioui normally step into the ring basically to brawl their way and to look for the hard shots. Kolaj, a pressure fighter, might risk starting a bit rusty as he fought only once in the last two years because of personal issues and minor injuries. The 34-year-old Chadlioui is obviously the away boxer, but he has been way more active over the last years and he is probably the better boxer of the two, using his torso movements much more, switching stances and countering well with his right cross. He is, all in all, definitely a live opponent in this contest.
The official weights:
Kolaj 172.9 vs. Chadlioui 174.6 (vacant European Union (EU) light-heavyweight title)
Saturday night in Ludwigsburg, Germany, former WBA interim titlist Vincent Feigenbutz (27-2, 24 KOs), still very young at 22, will be facing experienced South African Ryno Liebenberg (18-5, 12 KOs) as the third defense of his IBF Inter-Continental super middleweight belt. The contest can be described as the toughest test for Feigenbutz since his TKO loss at the hands of Giovanni De Carolis two year ago, a night which has been followed by six victories, all but one inside the distance. As chief-support of this Sauerland promoted night, Italian Vissia Trovato (10-0, 4 KOs) and southpaw Nina Meinke (6-1, 3 KOs) will square off for a vacant IBF featherweight belt, over ten two-minute rounds.