By Per Ake Persson
WBO cruiser champ Johnny Nelson´s defense against Italian Vincenzo Cantatore goes to purse bids - again - on August 23. The WBO have set the minimum bid to 150 000 USD. The first purse bids were won by Cantatore´s then promoter OPI 2000. However, they were forced to postpone the bout and then Cantatore´s contract expired. He´s now signed to Loreni Boxe.
Norwegian Thomas Hansvoll has announced his retirement reports vg.no. Hansvoll, who last fought at cruiser almost two years ago before attempting to move up to heavy. He began his career as a supermiddle and challenged then WBA 175 lb champ Bruno Girard in 2002. Hansvoll sites lack of motivation as reason for retirement - but it´s not the first time Thomas has retired so if there’s a good offer on the table chances are probably good he´ll be back.
Frenchman Frederik Klose is the new mandatory challenger for EBU welter champ Oktay Urkal. Urkal defends against Russian Maxim Nesterenko on September 3 in Berlin in a voluntary defense.
Serbian heavy Jovo Pudar will now make his Euro debut end of October in Belgrade. Pudar was originally set to debut in June in Helsinki but it fell through due to lack of sponsors.
Retired jr middle Tonton Semakala has begun a career as a trainer for his old amateur club in Tensta, Sweden. Tonton went 15-0 in a career that for various reasons never really took off. A bad back injury earlier this year then forced the 30-year old Semakala to retire.
Boxteam Vienna put on a combined proboxing / martial arts show in St Valentin on August 20. Romanian lightweight Vasile Dragomir takes on Czech Pavel Nemecek in the headliner.
