By Per Ake Persson
Turkish heavyweight Sinan Samil Sam have, as previously done by his Universum colleague Luan Krasniqi, relinquished his position as official challanger for the EBU heavyweight title held by Italian Paolo Vidoz. It could be Danny Williams that replaces Sam. There was to have been purse offers on March 21 for Vidoz vs Sam.
Former WBA 122 lb champ Mayhar Monshipour has announced his retirement, according to French newspaper l´Equipe. The 31-year old Monshipour, 28-3-2, has had a lot of tough fights and Saturday´s war with Thai Somsak Sitchatchawal was according to French media reports no exception.
Italian veteran Stefano Zoff, who just turned 40 and a pro since 89, wants to continue his career and is the official challenger for EU 135 lb champ Francisco Nohales. Zoff lost fghts for the IBF and EBU titles last year.
Romanian light heavyweight Adrian Diaconu takes on Max Heymann for the vacant NABA title on March 24. If all goes well, Diaconu could be the opponent for WBO champ Zsolt Erdei on May 6 in Duesseldorf. Ukrainian Alexei Trofimov has been mentioned as well as Alejandro Lakatus.
Tom Russell´s latest CD is now finally out. It´s called Love and Fear and features a song called "The Pugilist at 59". It´s a little about boxing, but mostly about life. "Beautiful Trouble" mentions "Champion" Jack Dupree, who according to the legend was Memphis champ before turning to music. Check out tomrussell.com or hightone.com for more info.
