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In February 2007 Olympic gold medallist Yuriorkis Gamboa had arrived in Hamburg for the first time after defecting from the Cuban national team along with team-mates Odlanier Solis and Yan Barthelemy. Three years and 17 pro-fights later the WBA featherweight champion made his return to Germany yesterday to defend his world title against unbeaten Jonathan Victor Barros next week (Saturday, March 27th) at Sporthalle Hamburg.
Heavyweight sensation Odlanier Solis continued his fast rise to to the top with an impressive performance against former world title challenger Carl Davis Drumond from Costa Rica. In Key West (Florida) "La Sombra" forced his opponent to quit after the third round after a one-sided bashing.
After Vitali Klitschko declassed “Kingpin” Kevin Johnson Saturday night in Bern, Switzerland, ARENA-CEO Ahmet Öner is convinced that his heavyweight sensation Odlanier Solis will be next in line to challenge the WBC champion. “I hope that this was the last living sandbag Vitali had to fight before facing a real challenge next year”, said Öner. “His next mandatory challenger will be Odlanier Solis. And I can promise that Solis will not only try to survive but go for the kill when he finally faces Klitschko.”
At its 47th Annual World Convention in Jeju (Korea) this week the WBC announced the new world ratings. After his impressive 2nd round tko victory over former world title challenger Monte Barrett on October 10th in New York heavyweight sensation Odlanier Solis advances to rank #3 after only 15 pro-fights (15 wins, 11 kos).
Legendary Madison Square Garden has seen a lot of great ring battles – but only very few debuts as impressive as the ones of Odlanier Solis and Yuriorkis Gamboa Saturday night at “Island Warriors – Latin Fury 12” co-promoted by Top Rank, ARENA and PR Best Boxing.
“This feels like making history”, said ARENA-CEO Ahmet Öner before entering the plane to New York on Tuesday morning. This Saturday (October 10th) Öner and his Hamburg based ARENA Box-Promotion will co-host “Islands Warriors – Latin Fury 12” along with Top Rank and PR Best Boxing at world famous Madison Square Garden. “The MSG is the place where all fighters and promoters want to be”, adds Öner. “I am very proud that we made it there in only three years. I want to thank our partners at Top Rank that they opened this door for us. I think Gamboa and Solis are exceptional talents who deserve to enter this most prestigious venue where so many great champions have fought true ring battles.”
ARENA’s rising middleweight star Mahir Oral and heavyweight prospects Steffen Kretschmann and Konstantin Airich scored easy wins at Gran Casino de Castellon in Spain on Friday night.
German promoter Ahmet Öner has been shot down in Hamburg at 10.15pm local time on Tuesday night. The CEO of ARENA Box-Promotion was leaving the office of a business partner in Hamburg when two men fired at him three times. The assassins had waited for Öner behind his car when a security light exposed them in the dark and they started the fire. One bullet hit Öner in his left leg before he and his two companions could get back into the building to call the police. The shooters ran away. Öner had to undergo surgery only two hours after the assault. The projectile was successfully removed from his thigh.
For eight weeks ARENA’s promising heavyweight prospect Steffen Kretschmann and IBF middleweight championship contender Mahir Oral have been in training camp together with coach Hans-Jürgen Witte. After a stay at famous “Sportschule Hennef” (near Cologne) and another three weeks of sparring in Hamburg the team has hit Berlin last weekend for their final preparations.