By Marco Bratusch
It was definitely a noteworthy purse-bid section the one which took place today at the EBU headquarters in Rome, Italy.
Promotion JB German Sports earned the right to stage the mandatory defense of current European super-middleweight champion Stefan Haertel against mandatory challenger and former longtime WBO “regular” light heavyweight titlist Jurgen Braehmer, submitting a hefty offer of 130,000 Euros. The champion bidders put in the envelope 61,500 Euros. The winning promoter intends to stage the bout in October, with either Rostock or Schwerin as the possible sites in Germany.
The 40-year-old southpaw Braehmer (51-3, 37 KOs), who will turn 41 in October, cut ties with his former promoter Sauerland Events last year and decided to establish his own promotional venture. In 2017 he outboxed recently dethroned WBA beltholder Rob Brant over twelve rounds in the first round of the World Boxing Super Series’ opening season. Stefan Haertel (18-1, 2 KOs), aged 31, another former Sauerland Events fighter, became the new European 168-lb champion outboxing Robin Krasniqi last May in Magdeburg at the end of a competitive, twelve-round affair. He is a well schooled boxer wih an accurate jab and punch selection.
Other two important European boxing companies played very aggressive with the numbers resulting in a head-to-head purse bid.
Official challenger Cedric Vitu’s handlers secured the right to stage the bout against European super middleweight champion Sergio Garcia, represented by Maravilla Box. France’s Ringstar offered the soundly sum of Euros 102,000, slightly outbidding the 92,085 Euros offer presented by the Spanish boxing venture. No date or venue was released by the winning promoter at the moment.
The unbeaten 26-year-old Garcia (30-0, 13 KOs) is at the third defense of his crown. In February 2019 he left the O2 Arena crowd speechless as he decisively outboxed local prospect Ted Cheeseman in the first defense of his title. The left-handed Cedric Vitu (47-3, 19 KOs), 33, a the former European champion himself and 2017 EBU Fighter of the Year before grabbing a world title crack against rugged Argentinain Bryan Castano, who beat him via late TKO. Both Garcia and Vitu are volume boxers with quick hands and good reflexes and their contest will likely play out as a palatable hard-fought boxing match, especially with the challenger having now the favors of the friendly soil for such title. However, the Spanish beltholder looks he has improved consistently and he possibly remains a slight favorite.
The deadline for unbeaten European heavyweight champion Agit Kabayel (19-0, 13 KOs) and official challener Joe Joyce (10-0, 9 KOs) to reach a private deal has been pushed back again to September 3rd, with the EBU accepting this request made by the champion promoter SES Boxing. Joyce is coming from a twelve-round pretty comfortable victory to Philadelphia’s Bryant Jennings last week in London, UK. Jennings had his moments landing clean shots up and down without the necessary power to turn the tide though, and for Joyce it can be seen as an important learning fight along the way, as he basically relies primarily on his natural physical strength and aggressiveness more than skills and defense.