By Christopher P. Cook
Sauerland Promotions put together a championship card consisting of ten action-packed bouts at Brandenburg-Halle in Frankfurt (Oder) on Saturday, July 24. Headlining the card, Germany's Danilo Häußler (23-2-0, 6 KOs) fought against Denmark's Rudy Markussen (29-1-0, 17 KOs) for the vacant EBU Super Middleweight title. Häußler, the former EBU title-holder, was looking to regain his title that he lost in October of 2003 to another Dane, Mads Larsen. This bout would end similar, with Markussen winning the bout via unanimous decision. Häußler looked outmatched in the first half, with Markussen dropping him in the fifth and sixth rounds.
He was able to recover some and catch-up on the scorecards in the second part. Markussen, feeling the pressure, floored the German again in round twelve to secure the decision victory. Judges scored the bout 113-112 and 115-111 twice for the new EBU champion Rudy Markussen.
The co-main event of the evening places Europe's newest heavyweight threat Nicolay Valuev (37-0-0, 28 KOs) against former Olympic medalist Ruchard Bango (16-1-0, 12 KOs). The Beast from the East was able to put a stoppage to the bout in the sixth round, moving himself closer to a world title bout. In action for the WBF Light Middleweight title, Mihály Kotai (29-1-0, 15 KOs) defeated Floyd Trumpet (12-4-1, 6 KOs) in eight rounds, winning the bout by TKO. Heavyweight Sinan Samil Sam (20-2-0, 13 KOs) made short work in his bout, destroying Doug Liggion (9-5-1, 4 KOs) in less than one round. Other action on the card: Mger Mkrtchian TKO-2 Branko Sobot / Rene Dettweiler PTS-4 Aleksandre Borgovs / Krzysztof Bienias UD-6 Michal Durovic / György Hidvégi TKO-3 Wlodek Kopec / Cengiz Koc UD-6 Terry McGroom / Alexander Sipos UD-8 Hamlet Petrosian.