By Per Ake Persson
EBU welterweight champion Gianluca Branco (49-3-1) now has Olympian Leonard Bundu (32-1-2) as the official challenger in what will be an all Italian battle between two 40+ veterans but first Branco will make a voluntary defense of the title on September against an opponent to be announced.
Branco previously had none other than former two-division champion Paulie Malignaggi as the mandatory challenger, but after Malignaggi was stopped in nine rounds by Danny Garcia this past Saturday night in Brooklyn - he is out of the picture. Malignaggi hinted after that recent loss that he was planning to retire from boxing.
Bundu recovered from last December's twelve round decision loss to WBA 'regular' welterweight champion Keith Thurman, with a June eight round decision victory over Pablo Munguia.