By Per Ake Persson
Danish news agency Ritzau reports that Mikkel Kessler is back in full training for his November 3 bout with Joe Calzaghe after almost a week out due to a cold. Kessler sparred today for four rounds with Brian Magee, who arrived in Copenhagen last Monday.
Universum´s show on November 24 in Dresden features as previously announced, WBO light heavyweight champ Zsolt Erdei. In the co-headliners WBA interim cruiserweight ruler Firat Arslan will finally face champion in recess, Virgil Hill, and WBC Int´l super middleweight titleholder Denis Inkin defends against Argentinian Martin Abel Bruer.
Ukrainian heavyweight Vladimir Virchis has relinquished the EBU title. Stablemate and fellow-Ukrainian Aleksander Dimitrenko remains as mandatory challenger. Dimitrenko faces German veteran Timo Hoffmann November 17 in Magdeburg - a fight that is "only" for the WBO I/C title.
Unbeaten jr light Vitaly Tajbert takes on Russian Peter Petrov on the undercard to Sturm vs Griffin in Halle / Westfalen. Also on the bill are heavies Sebastian Koenig and Dieter Roth as well as middleweight Sebastian Zbik.
Finnish heavyweight Sami Elovaara is sidelined with a shoulder injury for his planned fight in Helsinki on October 22. Replacing him is Sauerland Event´s prospect Francesco Pianeta. Opponent is Tawadh Amim.
The undercard to Jean Marc Mormeck vs. David Haye November 10 in Paris features the return of ex-WBA jr welterweight champ Souleyman M´Baye, who will take on Brit Ted Bami.
Loreni Boxe in Italy have a busier than usual weekend coming up: on October 12 Nuvolera national jr welterweight titlist Brunet Zamora defends against Emanuele De Prophetis. On the undercard welterweight Emanule Della Rosa, reigning WBC Meditarranean champ, makes his debut for Loreni Boxe. On October 13 in Bellano, Loreni Boxe promotes a pro/am bill in Bellamo with welterweight Luca Marasco headlining.
Two weeks after ticket sales began for WIBF flyweight queen Regina Halmich´s farewell bout on November 30 at the dm arena in Karlsruhe all 6500 tickets are gone. Universum have however added an extra balcony and now 800 more seats are available. EBU light heavyweight champ Thomas Ulrich´s defence against Yuri Barashian have been moved to this show after previously been scheduled for Dresden a week earlier.
EU welterweight ruler Antonio Lauri defends against Daniel Petrucci November 24 in Rome with Buccione Boxing promoting.
Henry Akinwande finally has a co-challenger for the vacant EU heavyweight title: Young German Rene Dettweiler have accepted the position.
Italian middleweight Gaetano Nespro faces Brazilian Idiozan Matos on October 19 in Pompei for the IBF Int´l title.
