By Per Ake Persson
Cuxhaven, Germany - WBC Int'l welterweight champ Selcuk Aydin retained the title in style stopping Luis Hernandez from Ecuador but fighting out of Puerto Rico at 2.30 of the first round scoring two knockdowns. Hernandez, who had arrived to Germany only on the morning of the fight, never got untracked. Aydin, now trained by Graciano Rocchigiani, is now 17-0 with 14 early endings.
Czech heavyweight Ondrey Pala won a majority ten round decision over stablemate Konstantin Airich in a fight that was also an internal eliminator. Pala dominated and looked like a clear winner. It was scored 99-92 , 96-94 and 95-95.
Cruiser Herbie Hide got a solid workout from Sandro Siprishvili but won clearly on scores of 80-72 twice and 79-73. Hide's WBC eliminator against Matt Godfrey might go ahead either May 8 or 15 with Saarbruecken as possible site.
Croatian cruiser Ivica Bacurin won a close call over German Timo Gross in another Arena internal eliminator over six tough rounds. It was scored 58-56 twice and 58-57. Bacurin had semi-retired former light heavyweight champ Stipe Drews in his corner. Word is that Stipe will come back in the near future.
In his final sparring session, heavyweight Steffen Kretschmann suffered a busted eardrum which led to the cancellation of his fight against Denis Bahktov.
Supervisor for WBC Int'l Mauro Betti got sick on the day of the show and couldn't attend.
Former WBC super middleweight champ Markus Beyer was ringside but his future in the ring is still up in the air due to the bad back injury he suffers from.
Also at ringside were EBU middleweight champ Khoren Gevor and bright prospect at the same weight Gennadyi Golovkin.
