By Per Ake Persson

Danish cruiserweight Anders Hugger Nielsen, 9-0, headlines Team Palle´s first show of the year on March 14 in Odense when he takes on American Louis Azille, 19-4-2, for the vacant IBA I/C title. It´s a step up in class for Hugger, who in his fights this far have shown promise but also a leaky defence. There will in all be six fights on the show and two more title fights to be announced.

 

American heavyweight Joey Abell returns to Sweden and Gothenburg and will headline Pugnus Boxing Promotion´s show in Gothenburgon  March 27. Abell face Croatian Ivica Perkovic in what is a puncher vs. spoiler clash, sadly over six-two minute rounds - the special Swedish rules for professional boxing. Welterweight Isam Khalil and light heavyweight Julian Ilie are also scheduled to fight. Also on the bill is Dane Allan Vester, who is also set to headline his father Anders´ show in Aarhus on April 4.

 

Arena Box Promotion is back in Turkey and stages a show in Trabzon on April 25 with welterweight Selcuk Aydin headling. Aydin squares off against South African Lucky Lewele in WBC Int´l titlefight. Lewele beat another Alpaslan Aguzum, also a Arena fighter, but then lost to Bongani Mwelase. A defence by Mwelase against Aydin didn´t materialize and eventually he was stripped so Aydin vs. Lewele is for the vacant title. Aydin fights Farkad Bakirov March 14 in Munich.

 

Spanish website espabox.com writes that WBO flyweight champ Omar Narvaez will defend the title against Ivan Pozo on April 11 in Vigo.

 

Norwegian jr welterweight Geir Inge Jorgensen knocked out Romanian Robert Andrei Florin, a very soft touch, in the first round Feb 26 in Beograd, Serbia. The win set up a possible WBF title fight for Geir Inge, who now may face Italian Alfredo Di Feto in late April, also in Serbia.

 

WBO light heavyweight champ Zsolt Erdei´s next defense will now take place sometime in May. The original working date was April 26 but it´s never been confirmed by Universum.

 

Hungarian cruiser Joszef Nagy wasn´t accepted by TV as a big enough "name" for Herbie Hide on March 11 in Halle/Saale. In comes instead German veteran Ruediger May.

 

Ex-WBC super middle champ Markus Beyer returns March 14 in Munich. Opponent will be Russian Murat Mahmudov, once a capable fighter on the rise. How much he has left remains to be seen he should have enough left to make Markus work hard for a win. Cuban heavyweight Odlanier Solis face American veteran Bruce Seldon. Sinan Samil Sam defends the WBC Mediterranean title against Ratko Draskovic. On the undercard once touted lightheavy Kai Kurzawa looks to get his career back on track against Armin Dollinger.