By Per Ake Persson
German veteran Oktay Urkal has relinquished the EBU welter title after being been named the official challenger for WBA ruler Luis Collazo. There was going to be a purse bid on Sep 30, in Rome, for Oktay´s mandatory defense against Frenchman Frederic Klose, who now will take on the next available challenger - and this is Italian Toni "the Ruler" Lauri.
Ex-WBC cruiser champ Juan Carlos Gomez takes on ex-heavy champ Oliver McCall on October 15 in Duesseldorf. Headlining the bill is Tomasz Adamek vs Thomas Ulrich in a WBC 175 lb fight, once again it's Universum vs Don King Productions.
Ukrainian light heavyweight prospect Vyacheslav Uzelkov takes on Congolese veteran Mukadi Manda on October 14 at the Freedom Night Club in Kiev. Yuri Barashan, also at 175, squares off against Hungarian Istvan Varga in the co-headliner.
German heavyweight Cengiz Koc takes on American Chris Lewallen later tonight in Oldenburg on the undercard to Valuev vs Donald. Polish heavyweight prospect Mariusz Wach is also on the bill and faces Latvian Aleksandre Borhovs.
The heavyweight clash between Alex Mazikin and Goran Gogic will now go ahead on either October 15 in Duesseldorf or October 22 in Halle/Saale. The fight was billed to take place on the Brewster vs Krasniqi card, but was postponed at the last minute.
September 30, Slagelse, Denmark:
Danish lightweight Martin Kristjansen won the vacant WBO I/C 135 lb title with an one-sided tenth round stoppage of South African Anthony Tshela. Tshela was trailing on points by 89-82, 90-81 and 90-81 when he retired and didn´t come out for the tenth. Kristjansen was well in control throughout by boxing on the outside showing good skills but lacked the power to hurt his opponent. There were no knockdowns. Tshela showed good handspeed but could never get to the slick Dane.
Super middleweight Rudy Markussen knocked out South African southpaw Mpush Makambi in the third round of a scheduled eight-rounder. Markussen stunned Makambi in the first, but the experienced South African weathered the storm. Makambi got caught in the third by a hard right after missing with his left. "I love fighting southpaws" stated Markussen, who have a fearsome right and a good left hook. Rudy is high in all the world ratings and a showdown with his stablemate and former gymmate, WBA ruler Mikkel Kessler, could be on the cards for next year. WBO king Joe Calzaghe is another possibility.
Unbeaten welter veteran Thomas Damgaard scored a unanimous eight-round decision over Zambian Bruno Sakabunda. Damgaard shows a better defense these days, than even shown in the past and put on a steady performance without going all out.
Congolese cruiserweight Toto Mubenga won an upset points win over six against Norwegian heavy Rune Lillebuen. Mubenga was stunned twice by his showboating, rusty opponent but scored with more punches that apparently impressed the judges. Rune felt he was well in control of the fight, but didn´t look good by waiting too long to get off after a slow start.
Cruiserweight Johny Jensen took out Hungarian Zoltan Beres in the fifth of their six-rounder. Beres had two points deducted for holding. Female bantam Anita Christensen knocked out Bulgarian Monika Petrova in the fifth with a single right. It took some time to revive Petrova.
Bettina Palle promoted the event and the next Palle-show is set for October 28 with super middleweight Lolenga Mock on the bill.
