By Per Ake Persson
Boxing Kings Promotion in Geneva, Switzerland, stages its annual pro/am show December 26 at the Kursaal in Berne. Middleweight Yves Studer, light heavyweight Mohamed Belkacem and lightweight Martino Ciano are featured in the pro fights.
Cruiserweight Ali Ismailov headlines a Tundra v. Barcelo/Collosal Promotion show in Baku, Azerbadjan on December 8. Ismailov fights Argentinian Alejandro Alvaraz.
EU cruiserweight champ Giacobbe Fragomeni defends the title against Frenchman Rachid El Hadak on OPI 200´s show in Milan on December 22.
The fight for the vacant WBA lightweight title between Jose Alfaro and Prawet Singwancha could end up in Bielefeldt, Germany, with Don King and Sauerland Event as co-promoters.
Ex-WBA king Nikolai Valuev is in Japan on a PR/training trip and expects to stay until December 20. Valuev told local media his fight against Sergei Liakhovich could go ahead on February 16 in Germany.
Female super middleweight star Natascha Ragosina will make a public sparring session with Nadine Kleinert, who trains boxing along with her career in shortput. Kleinert, 190cm / 6ft3 and 90 kg / 200 lbs, will reportedly turn pro - as a boxer - after the Olympic games in 2008 where she is one of the favourites for a gold medal.
Norwegian jr. welterweight Geir Inge Jorgensen, in training in Newark, NJ, for sometime now fights in North Carolina December 8 and faces Abdul Blackburn. If all goes well Geir Inge, 24-1, will take on a tougher opponent in February.
Spanish jr. welterweight Juan Carlos Melero Diaz, reigning EU champ, faces Colombian Euclides Espitia December 14 in Madrid.
Swedish proboxing´s biggest biggest - mediawise that is - star, 40-year old NY-based female middleweight Aasa Sandell is pregnant and announced her retirement from boxing. Sandell hit the bigtime after getting stopped by Laila Ali in Berlin in 2005. Austrian referee Josef Temml made a well timed stoppage but Sandell claimed it was stopped too soon - and media here believed her - and she became a star in Sweden. When pro boxing was allowed, Sandell was the biggest name but proved to be rather limited. She goes out at 6-4-2.
