By Per Ake Persson

Former WBC cruiserweight champ Juan Carlos Gomez has signed with Arena Box Promotion, headed by Ahmet Oener, in Hamburg. Gomez, who like Oener fought most of his career for Universum, is now living in Los Angeles. He has been under supension in Germany for a year after testing positive for cocaine after beating Oliver McCall last year but will make his comeback on the big One-Night-Superfighter-Tournament on December 1 in Melbourne. The 33-year old Gomez, now a heavyweight, is 39-1.
 
Klaus Peter Kohl, who heads Universum, has been named European Promoter of the Year by the WBO while his son-in-law Dietmar Poszwa, CEO for Spotlight Boxing, has been named WBO I/C Promoter of the Year. Matchmaker Hedi Taouab got a special award from the WBO: Boxing Globetrotter of the Year 2006.
 
Portugese promoter Joao Pina crosses the border to Spain to stage a show on October 27 in Lepe with lightweight Antonio "Bento Algarvio" Bento on top of a pro/am show. Bento takes on Venezuelan Edinson Torres.
 
The EBU have set November 14 as a deadline for purse offers for its heavyweight champ Vladimir Virchis´ mandatory defense against Sinan Samil Sam. Meanwhile, Sam defends the WBC Int´l title on November 10 in Hamburg against Bob Mirovic and could also be taking part in the Superfighter tournament in Australia on December 1.
 
Danish featherweight Spend Abazi is now a mandatory challenger for EU champ Domenico Urbano. The deadline for purse offers is November 14. Abazi, 35-1, has eased back to action during 2006 after a layoff due to injuries.
 
German heavyweight Timo Hoffmann is now trained by Uwe Schuster. Hoffmann faces stablemate Cengiz Koc on November 4 in Muhlheim an der Ruhr, in a crossroads fight. Big Timo was for his last few fights trained by Manfred Wolke.