By Alexey Sukachev
At Wednesday's press conference that was held by Team Povetkin and Sauerland Event in Moscow, BoxingScene.com sat down with Sauerland's General Manager Chris Meyer to discuss several of his fighters, including Arthur Abraham, Marco Huck, Alexander Frenkel and more.
BoxingScene.com: Rumors are circulating that two of your young guns, cruiserweight Alexander Frenkel (22-0, 17 KOs) and light heavyweight Kari Murat (22-0, 13 KOs), will fight next on a big Welsh show in September against Enzo Maccarinelli (32-4, 25 KOs) and Nathan Cleverly (19-0, 9 KOs) respectively. Can you confirm it?
- Not, right now. But we are close to reach a deal with Mr. Frank Warren. Indeed, a huge doubleheader is pre-planned, so that our new breed will test their skills against the cream of the cream in Wales.
BoxingScene.com: Arthur Abraham lost to Andre Dirrell in a shock fashion. Some experts went as far as to convict Dirrell in simulating the knockout loss. As a representative of Abraham’s promoter, what can you tell us about this disappointing moment?
- First of all, I find referee’s activities in that moment to be controversial. One thing is sure: Andre Dirrell was indeed hit while being on one knee (having one knee on the ground) in what seemed to be a slip. So the violation took place as Arthur was so willing to earn his next three points of the tournament. However, if the referee had been closer he would have been able to shout “Stop!” and to save Dirrell from an unwanted punishment. Abraham was on the edge of turning the bout around.
Business-wise, it’s up to fans to discuss the outcome and up to the referee to make a decision. He had two choices and he preferred to call it a disqualification, though he had a right to give Dirrell five minutes to recover and to ask them if he was fit to continue. He chose another way and we have to respect his decision”.
BoxingScene.com: How can you rate Laurence Cole’s work in that fight?
- It’s hard to say this and I’m sorry to but even though I have known Laurence for several years I cannot rate his work high that day. Sorry but that wasn’t Laurence’s best day by any means.
BoxingScene.com: What can you say about the location of the next fight of Arthur against Carl Froch?
- We have to fix such details with Mick Hennessy and we are working on that. I think that in a couple of weeks the solution will have been found. We also need to do some promotion and there’s not much time left to Aug. 21.
BoxingScene.com: Rumours got it that the fight date will be shifted to September?
- We are discussing this. Froch’s party asked about the postponement but they had no right to as Carl hadn’t been injured in Kessler fight. We shall see, and I cannot yet confirm any postponements.
BoxingScene.com: What is next for Marco Huck?
- Rumors of him fighting on June 5 are incorrect. We all know that Marko likes to fight often but clearly not that often. Some people were interested in such a fight but we were forced to turn them down. Marko will come back in September on in October.
