By Per Ake Persson
According to figosport.de, heavyweights Timo Hoffmann (40-7-2) and Steffen Kretschmann (16-2) will clash on September 1 in Halle an der Saale on an outdoor show promoted by Hoffmann., who trains there under Uwe Schuster while Kretschmann is a local hero.
Hoffmann, known as the German Oak for the incredible durability he displayed in his long (he turned pro in 93) and hard career, was with Sauerland for a number of years and his biggest fight came in 2000 when got a lot of credit for lasting the distance against Vitali Klitschko. He soaked up a bad beating though - and lost twice to Michael Sprott in fights that followed although the judges gave a win in their second fight.
After back to back losses against Timur Ibragimov and Alexander Dimitrenko in 2007 the now 37-year old Hoffmann parted ways with Sauerland. A brief spell with SES and a loss to Francois Botha, Timo has been his own man with fights few and far between.
Kretschmann was a good amateur and turned pro with Arena but two losses to Denis Bakhtov more or less ended his career. He has since returned fighting on local shows and winning against modest opposition. A win over a faded Hoffmann might be the first step on the road back.
