By Marco Bratusch

During the weekend to come, several important European titles are going to take place around the old continent, featuring some interesting matchups.

Next Friday in San Bonifacio, northern Italy, Silvia Bortot (6-0-1, 2 KOs), aged 34, will defend his junior welterweight belt for the first time against Djamila Gontaruk (15-5-2, 2 KOs), from Belgium. The 27-year-old challenger is a former European champion herself as he won the title in 2015 in the lower featherweight division, and she is also a former WBO world title challenger. Italian boxing venture Royal Boxing Team will stage the show very close to Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet city of Verona.

Again next Friday, again Italy. Two-time European lightweight champion Francesco Patera (22-3, 8 KOs), from Belgium but with a deep Italian lineage, will put his title voluntarily at stake against 2009 amateur AIBA world champion Domenico “Mirko” Valentino (8-0, 1 KOs). Patera is coming from a dominant, three-fight winning streak in this second reign as EBU champ, and he stopped Paul Hyland jr. in six rounds in his last performance of June in Milan, Italy. Valentino, aged 35, a policeman who grew up in the boxing school of Marcianise, had a long, decorated but taxing amateur career. He won the Italian title in the paid ranks in 2018 and retained it once. Patera is a smart volume boxer, who really lets his hands go up and down and impose a high pace to the fight for all twelve rounds. He has also faced a way stronger opposition than the Italian challenger. It will be really tough for Valentino to last the distance against such opponent, being himself a pure technician with no remarkable punching power to turn the tide in his favor. Matchroom Boxing Italy and OPI Since 82 will co-promote the boxing night at Allianz Cloud in Milan, Italy, also featuring 168-pound beltholder Daniele Scardina (17-0, 14 KOs) versus Ilias Achergui (13-4-1, 6 KOs) and welterweight Maxim Prodan (17-0-1, 14 KOs) versus Wales’ Tony Dixon (12-2, 3 KOs) for two IBF regional belts scheduled over ten rounds.

Next Saturday at O2 Arena in Greenwich, London, UK, unbeaten European cruiserweight champion Yves Ngabu (20-0, 14 KOs) will arguably take on the biggest test of his career as he will square off against another undefeated man in British champion Lawrence Okolie (13-0, 10 KOs). Ngabu’s best victory can be considered his last appearance and second title defense against the Dane Micki Nielsen, a stylistically similar opponent who he comfortably beat on points last February in Belgium. This time taking on the local man Okolie he will have a totally different opponent in front of him as the Brit is a very tall, rangy thinker who basically likes to box at long distance using his long shots. It basically looks as a 50/50 fight, depending on who will take control earlier over the bout. This European contest contributes to enrich a great boxing night promoted by Matchroom Boxing and Sauerland Event, headlined by the awaited junior welterweight unification fight between New Orleans’ heavy-handed counter-puncher Regis Prograis (24-0, 20 KOs) and aggressive volume boxer and vicious body puncher Josh Taylor (15-0, 12 KOs) from Glasgow, Scotland – two undefeated left-handed fighters in their prime.

The fourth EBU title of the rich weekend is going to take place in Agen, France, where junior lightweight Samir Ziani (30-3-1, 6 KOs) will defend his title against mandatory challenger Faroukh Kourbanov (16-1, 3 KOs). The French southpaw won the vacant 130-lbs title last February stopping Spain’s Juli Giner in Barcelona. Kourbanov held the European Union (EU) title during 2017, he is a rangy boxer who control the fight and normally likes to cool down the pace. The champion can be seen as a slight favorite, not only because of the geographic advantage.

Another palatable boxing card is expected to take place next Saturday in Rome, Italy, where unbeaten local prospect Michael Magnesi (15-0, 7 KOs), 24, will face Ghana’s rugged veteran Maxwell Awuku (46-4-1, 32 KOs), 36, a tall left-handed banger who lost in his WBC world title shot early in 2018 against Mexico’s Miguel Berchelt, which is the only loss inside the distance in the African’s record. The two fighters will battle for Magnesi’s WBC International belt in a BBT Promotion event.