By Marco Bratusch

Finnish technical-boxer Edis Tatli (30-2, 10 KOs), who happened to be EBU’s fighter of the year for 2016 and is the current 135-pound European champion, will defend his lightweight belt against an opponent soon to be announced by his promoter Pekka Maeki, who has the right to pick a willing one among the EBU ranked boxers in that weight division to save his show in Savonlinna, Finland, on August 11. Tatli was previously supposed to take on mandatory challenger Marvin Petit but the Frenchman is experiencing some medical issues and needs to rest for arguably a six-week period, according to medical certificates provided by his team. Petit (23-1-1, 11 KO) will keep is mandatory position and the fight between the two fighters is expected to materialize during next autumn.

Swedish left-handed heavyweight Otto Wallin (20-0, 13 KOs) has been appointed as the new mandatory challenger for Agit Kabayel’s European belt. The unbeaten 27-year-old Wallin is coming from the biggest victory of his career as he got past his countryman Adrian Granat via unanimous decision last April in Sundvall, Sweden, for the vacant European Union (EU) title. However, the champion Kabayel (18-0, 13 KOs) already has a voluntary defense set by his promoter SES boxing on October 27 in Germany, when he will be part of a rich tripleheader headlined by the European light-heavyweight contest between Enrico Koelling and 175-pound titlist Dominic Boesel and 168-pound newly crowned champion Robin Kasniqi’s first defense of his belt. Consequentially, the clash between these two young, unbeaten big guys will be likely finalized no sooner than the new year begins.

Powerful British firm Matchroom Boxing has announced a private deal was reached with French counterpart MK Events for the mandatory defense of their European 130-pound champion James Tennyson (22-2, 18 KOs) against mandatory challenger Samir Ziani (28-3-1, 5 KOs). The bout might be taking place on either September 21 in Belfast or September 22 in London, UK, which is the same date officially released for heavyweight kingpin Anthony Joshua’s defense against WBA’s official challenger Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium, launching the first boxing night streamed by the DAZN platform in the US. The choice upon which one of these two cards will include the EBU contest is likely depending on how the two co-featuring sections of those shows will be shaping up in the next weeks. The 24-year-old hard-punching Tennyson took the continental title from Martin J. Ward last May, while Ziani, aged 27, will be involved in his second attempt to win the EBU belt after a close loss on points suffered to longtime champion Guillaume Frenois in late 2016.