832 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Ruslan Chikov byline.
Every story follows our editorial policy. To report a mistake, use our corrections form; for anything else, contact us.
Former middleweight champion Arthur Abraham, 31-years-old, just signed a new promotional contract with Sauerland Event. He says the contract expires in 2014. The end of the contract will likely signal the end of his career. Abraham will return on January 14th against Pablo Farias in Offenburg.
WBO/IBO/WBA/IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (59-3, 49KOs) doesn't expect any television dispute with a mandatory fight against WBA "regular" champ Alexander Povetkin. They were scheduled to fight twice and twice the fight fell apart. Once Povetkin was injured in 2008 and in 2010 Povetkin withdrew from another scheduled date, per the advice of his trainer Teddy Atlas. The two boxers are under contract with rival German television networks.
Former middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (32-3, 26KOs) is in for a tough return on January 14th in Offenburg, Germany. He faces the durable Pablo Oscar Natalio Farias (19-1, 11KOs). Abraham took a moment to talk about several subjects with journalist Alexander Pavlov. One subject was the proposed clash between WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck and WBA "regular" heavyweight king Alexander Povetkin.
Sauerland Event, and their fighters Alexander Povetkin (23-0, 16KOs) and Marco Huck (34-1, 25KOs), are very receptive to staging a big event on February 25th. Huck, the WBO cruiserweight champion, would move up to heavyweight to challenge Povetkin for his WBA "regular' heavyweight title. While talks continue, Huck has not signed off on the fight.
At the Sport Palace Yunost in Zaporozhye, Ukraine, Avtandil Khurtsidze (27-2-2, 16 KOs) won a close twelve round majority decision over Ossie Duran (26-10-2, 10 KOs) to capture the WBC's silver title at middleweight. The scores were 114:114 114:113 and 115:113. Duran's boxing skills were on display in this contest and he fought very well against his much much stronger foe. It took a few rounds for Khurtsidze to work his way into the fight, and his power was clear in the later rounds and had more effect when they found the target.
WBC International silver heavyweight champion Manuel Charr (20-0) continues to press for a fight with WBC champion Vitali Klitschko. He was particularly angered with Vitali's decision to face British boxer Dereck Chisora on February 18th in Munich, Germany. He claims Vitali challenged him to a fight in June 2010 and Charr accepted, but their fight never took place. Charr is afraid that Vitali will retire before their contest happens. Vitali plans to face Chisora and then David Haye in June.
According to various reports, the IBF has approved Wladimir Klitschko's scheduled title defense against Jean Marc Mormeck (36-4, 22KOs) on March 3 at ESPRIT arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. Klitschko (56-3, 49KOs) was going to fight him last Saturday, but surgery to remove a kidney stone forced his withdrawal. Klitschko, also champion of the WBA, IBO and WBO, faced a minor issue with the IBF ordering a required mandatory defense against Tony Thompson by March 10th. Due to the circumstances, the IBF gave Klitschko an extension. Klitschko already stopped Thompson in eleven rounds in 2008 and is likely going to face him again before the end of 2012.
IBF/WBA/WBO/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko discussed the reasons behind the finalized fight with former cruiserweight champion Jean Marc Mormeck, who everyone views as a huge underdog. Wladimir defends his title against the 39-year-old Mormeck on March 3rd in Germany. Klitschko says his team attempted to approach Tyson Fury, Robert Helenius and Alexander Povetkin, but all three fighters turned him down for various reasons.
Sources in Germany are reporting that Vitali Klitschko (43-2, 40KOs) will defend his WBC heavyweight title against Dererck Chisora (15-2, 9KOs) on February 18th in Munich, Germany.
WBA/WBO/IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who now promotes under his K2 promotional company, WBA "regular" middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, is going to do everything to make a fight between Golovkin (22-0, 19KOs) and the WBA's super champion Felix Sturm (36-2-1, 15KOs) of Germany. Golovkin had his first fight under the K2 promotional banner last Friday night in Germany, and stopped Lajuan Simon in one round.