By Per Ake Persson
Polish welterweight Rafael Jackiewicz, IBF # 3, takes on Delvin Rodriguez, IBF # 4 on November 28 in Elk, Poland, in what his promoters at Bullit Knockout say is a final IBF eliminator. Spots one and two are vacant in the IBF ratings.
French super middleweight champ Medhi Bouadla defends the title on Saturday - Oct 31 - against veteran and former EBU middleweight ruler Morrade Hakkar. In the co-feature flyweight Mehdi Boulegcha defends the EU belt against Franck Gorjux in an all-French matchup. Both fights go out live on franceboxe.tv
It´s on: former WBA and WBC cruiserweight champ Jean Marc Mormeck returns as a heavyweight on November 20 in Paris against American Vinny Maddalone.
WBF heavyweight champ Francois Botha has issued a statement apologizing to the fans for his performance against Pedro Carrion this past Saturday. The fight ended in a draw. Botha states he was unable to fire his punches the way he wanted to due to a hand injury. – “There are only two fights where I am unhappy with my performance, this one and the one against Lennox Lewis,” says Botha. At the same time it takes two to tango and Carrion may look the part but have never as a pro been close to the standard he had as an amateur; at the same time he´s a very big man and difficult to look good against so Botha is partly excused.
Sauerland Event promotes a club show in Berlin on November 13 featuring some of their new talents and a few from Wiking Box Team. Jr middle Nick Klappert headlines along with light heavyweight Dustin Dirks. Also on the bill is Danish middle Patrick Nielsen, who hails from CIK in Copenhagen where Mikkel Kessler still trains.
Ukrainian middleweight Avtandil Khurtzide defends the WBA I/C title against Uzbeki veteran Kuvanych Toygonbaev on November 20 in Cherkasy. The show is promoted by K 2 East, who have announced welterweight Yuri Nuzhenko for the co-feature. Nuzhenko have an upcoming fight against Gianluca Branco for the vacant EBU title with date and site to be announced so his participation seems uncertain.
The Quiet Man, John Ruiz, former WBA heavyweight champ and mandatory challenger for the winner of Valuev vs Haye, will fight German veteran Adnan Serin on November 7 in Nuremberg. It´s scheduled for ten.
IBC cruiserweight champ Pawel Kolodziej defends the title on December 19 in Lodz, Poland. Light heavyweight Dawid Kostecki co-headlines and will also be featured in an IBC title fight.