By Marco Bratusch

Italian puncher Fabio Turchi (13-0, 10 KOs), aged 24, will make a voluntary defense of his WBC International Silver belt on February 2nd at Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence, Italy, against Argentinian veteran Dario German Balmaceda (15-16-2, 11 KOs), with the two scheduled to compete in a ten-rounder. At first, Turchi was due to take on European Union (EU) cruiserweight titleholder Aleksandru Jur, as he was the official challenger, a fight for which his promoter Boxe Loreni had won the specific bid weeks ago. Unfortunately, Jur got injured at the beginning of the week and it was not easy to find a suitable replacement in less than three weeks in order to fight for the vacant belt.

That’s why Turchi and his handlers asked to defend his WBC regional belt instead to be able to box in front of his fans before resuming his boxing activity in the United States under the Real Deal Promotions’ banner. As chief support for the show in Florence, light-heavyweight Nicola Pietro Ciriani (15-1-1, 9 KOs) will defend his national title against official challenger Vigan Mustafa (18-3, 8 KOs) in another ten-round bout.