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Russian light welterweight Khabib Allakhverdiev (16-0, 7KOs) is not intimidated by the deadly punching power of his next opponent, highly ranked former champion Kendall Holt (28-5, 16KOs). Khabib respects Holt's power but also feels the former champ is mentally weak. They clash on June 20th in Moscow, Russia.
Hard punching junior welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov (21-1, 14KOs) has been given an invite to assist former champion Amir Khan with his ongoing training camp. Provodnikov was the chief-sparring partner of Manny Pacquiao as the WBO welterweight champion prepared for Saturday's fight against Timothy Bradley. Khan is training for a clash on July 14th against undefeated WBC junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia. Freddie Roach is the trainer of Pacquiao, Khan and Provodnikov.
After ten years, Zab Judah and Kostya Tszyu will meet face to face. In a major unification bout in November 2001, Tszyu stopped Judah to unify the IBF/WBC/WBA titles at 140-pounds. Later this week, Judah is going to arrive in Moscow, Russia. The boxer has been invited to Moscow by promoter Vladimir Hryunov.
BoxingScene.com has been advised that a deal has been finalized for Arthur Abraham (34-3, 27KOs) to challenge WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (42-2, 23KOs) on August 25th at O2 World in Berlin, Germany. ARD will televise in Germany. A deal was reached between Sauerland Event and SES Boxing, who promote Stieglitz. Abraham has won two straight after losing three bouts in the Super Six tournament. Stieglitz has gone undefeated since an eight round TKO loss to Librado Andrade in 2008. He won eleven bouts in a row since the 2008 defeat.
Last week, WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (34-2-1, 25KOs) was laughing out loud when he witnessed the cruiserweight champion of Europe (EBU), Alexander Alekseev (23-2-1, 20KOs), struggle to a twelve round draw with 41-year-old ex-champion Firat Arslan. In past interviews, Alekseev felt he was more than ready to challenge and defeat Huck. He barely got past Arlsan, securing a winning score of 116-113 on one card, but the other two judges saw it 114-114 for the draw.
WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (20-0) and his promoter, Kyril Pchelnikov, have no issue with facing mandatory challenger Hassan N'Dam (27-0) in any location or venue. Pchelnikov states that recent comments regarding the possibility of unfair judging in N'Dam's backyard of France were taken out of context. In a recent interview on BoxingScene.com, N'Dam's promoter, Sebastian Acaries, expressed his goal of placing Pirog-N'Dam in France. If the offer is right, Pirog is willing to fight anywhere in the world.
WBA interim-champion cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev (24-1, 18KOs) is likely going to face former division ruler Jean-Marc Mormeck (36-5, 22KOs) on July 21 in Paris, according to Lebedev's manager Vladimir Hryunov. Mormeck will take a tuneup fight in order to secure a victory to reclaim a WBA ranking position. The French boxer has been fighting at heavyweight since December 2009 and unified champion Wladimir Klitschko overwhelmed him in four rounds on March 3rd.
Brandenburg Halle, Frankfurt, Germany - Heavyweight contender Francesco Pianeta (26-0-1, 14 KOs) won a ten round unanimous decision over former WBC champion Oliver McCall (56-12, 37 KOs). The scores were 98-92, 97-93 and 99-91. McCall, 47-years-old and still very tough, took the fight on short-notice after the original opponent, Francois Botha, withdew with a training injury. Pianeta was the more accurate and busier fighter. McCall, showing his iron chin, walked through Pianeta's flush punches in several rounds and continued to come forward, but also showed moments of mental weakness when he simply allowed Pianeta to score without firing shots back.
The team of WBO middleweight world champion Dmitry Pirog (20-0) will not rule out a possible fight with undefeated Frenchman Hassan N’Dam (27-0), who on May 4th won a twelve round decision against the tough Ukrainian boxer Maksym “The Tiger” Bursak (24-1) to capture the WBO's “interim” middleweight crown.
According to various reports, Polish heavyweight prospect Artur Szpilka (10-0, 8KOs) will likely be matched against experienced Argentine fighter Gonzalo Omar Basile (54-6, 25KOs) on June 2nd in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Basile, a 6'6 giant, has fought most of his career in Argentina. It will be the second fight for Szpilka of 2012. He stopped Terrance Marbra in the first round on March 24th.