By Per Ake Persson

New mandatory challenger for EBU heavyweight champ Vladimir Virchis is none other than former WBA heavyweight ruler Nikolai Valuev. The deadline for pursebids is July 30. A Virchis vs. Valuev showdown is a very interesting matchup. The Ukrainian is big enough and can punch hard enough to score an upset over Valuev, who needs to do a lot better than he did against Chagaev if he is to make it back to the top. Virchis, it must be noted, has not made any mandatory defenses of the title he won in July of last year.
 
French flyweight Brahim Asloum could be on his way to a third shot at the WBA title. Asloum is currently training with Dan Birmingham in the Winky Wright camp in Las Vegas and will have a tuneup September 6 in France. The plan is then to have Asloum challenge current champ Takefumi Sakata in December in Le Cannet. Sakata beat Luis Parra, who clearly beat Brahim so this is a big gamble by promoter Michel Acaries.
 
WBC and WBA cruiserweight champ Jean Marc Mormeck's planned defense against Brit David Haye could be on for September 28 in Levallois, writes netboxe.com.
 
German jr. middleweight champ Norman Schuster returns after an injury layoff on the undercard to Krasniqi vs. Thompson on July 14 in Hamburg.
 
Ex-IBF welterweight king Michele Piccirillo squares off against Frenchman Christophe Karagoz July 11 in Varese in a fight made at jr. middleweight.
 
Spanish featherweight Sergio Blanco headlines a small show July 20 in Hospitalet de Llobregat (near Barcelona). Blanco is the official challenger to EU champ Domenico Urbano.
 
The GBA and partners are putting on a giant martial arts/pro boxing event Aon ugust 18 in Berlin. All in all there will be over fifty fights in several different styles - for now there are around 17 pro fights scheduled.