By Per Ake Persson
Spanish 20-year veteran Javier Castillejo´s long and glorious career surely came to a brutal end at the hands of EBU middleweight champ Sebastian Sylvester on Saturday night in Neubrandenburg. At the same time Sylvester - improving fight by fight and with that fragile look about him is gone and replaced by the confidence of a champion - emerged as a genuine threat to WBA champ Felix Sturm and a big all-German worldtitle fight can be on for early fall. Sebastian´s win also finally opens the door for the number one challenger in the EBU ratings, Finn Amin Asikainen, who was ringside in Neubrandenburg. As for Castillejo, he spent the night in a hospital as a precaution but is now back in Spain nursing his wounds.
Cruiserweights Alexander Gourov and Enad Licina clash on May 17 for the vacant EE-EU title in Bayreuth, Germany, on Sauerland Event´s show there. It´s a risky gamble and an exciting matchup. Gourov can punch a bit and Licina, technically very skilled, was a very close winner last time out over Kendrick Releford. Also on the bill are Marco Huck and Alexander Frenkel, both cruisers.
Croatian amateur star Ivica Bacurin has signed with Arena Box Promotion in Germany and will make his pro debut on April 19 in Ochtenburg on a show staged by Flp Boxteam. Bacurin won four national titles at heavy and superheavy but will campaign at cruiser in the pros. Joining Bacurin in Ochtenburg are stablemates Mustafa Karagollu and Sebastian Sonntag.
Italian super middleweight Gianluca Tassi face Vigan Mustafa for the IBF Int´l title April 24 in Cecina. On the undercard cruiserweight Vincenzo Rossitto square off against Hungarian Sandor Forgacs.
Ukrainian, based in Italy, Sergey Demchenko tunes up on April 25 in Latina against Slovakian Michal Tomko and if all goes well he will challenge IBF I/C lightheavy champ Drago Janusevic May 10 in Belgrade.
Bruno Zamora and Andrzej Sark fight for the vacant WBA I/C jr welterweight title on May 16 in Trieste.
German Jurgen Brahmer can be found at # 4 in the WBA ratings at light heavyweight and we might see Brahmer vs. Argentinian Hugo Garay fighting for the title left vacant by Danny Green.
Finnish super heavyweight Robert Helenius failed to qualify to the Olympics in China and will now turn pro. Robert have been helped by Sauerland Event for some time and will fight professionally for them also. The plan is to market him in both Germany, Finland and Sweden.
Spotlight Boxing´s show in Magdeburg on April 19 is topped by Sebastian Zbik vs Marco Schulze where anything but a win for Zbik would be a huge upset. On the undercard Spotlight´s South American punchers Rene Maidana and Santander Salgado both appear. Maidana, at jr welter, face Mexican Arturo Morua while Salgado, a cruiser, fights American Lawrence Chapman. Heavyweight Manue Charre takes on Latvian Edgar Kalnars.
