By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing
Former IBF middleweight champion Sam “King” Soliman (46-14-1, 19 KOs) and former WBC super middleweight champion Sakio ”Scorpion” Bika (34-7-3, 22 KOs)
will complete their trilogy in an eight round bout on the Tszyu-Hogan undercard Wednesday night at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre at Newcastle, NSW, Australia, televised on Foxtel Main Event Pay-Per-View.
Bika and Soliman first clashed over twelve rounds in Melbourne for the IBF Pan Pacific middleweight title in 2002 with Soliman scoring a majority decision. In 2007, Bika won eight round points decision in a rematch over Soliman in the semi-final on the Contender Series.
Soliman was last in action against Mark Lucas in 2019, whom he outpointed over twelve rounds. Sam captured the IBF middleweight crown by outpointing Felix Sturm in 2013.
Bika is returning to the ring after three years of inactivity. He has been out since 2017 when he outpointed Geard Ajetovic over twelve rounds. Sakio captured the WBC super middleweight crown when he outpointed Marco Antonio Periban in 2013.
who are the idiots sanctioning this fight,
they are well past retired come on , soliman is totally spent
I actually don’t have a problem with this fight at all. So long as whoever wins it doesn’t get the idea to go after younger fighters afterwards – I don’t care, they can fight.
Win, lose or draw…Soliman and Bika were/are tough SOBs in the ring. Regardless of their records, Soliman and Bika will put on their gloves and get to that ‘True Grit’ work for 12 rounds.
God Bless both fighters.
This is crazy. It’s not the fight but the damage in the gym. The authorities need to act on this type of nonsense. Who is going to pay the medical bills in a few years and the social security bills when these blokes can’t work because they’re brains are mashed rice. Soliman has already retired twice.
Sam soliman strange type of fighter, unimpressive when you see him fight but achieved alot!!!