By Mark Vester

According to Universum, WBO junior middleweight champion Sergei Dzinziruk (35-0, 22KOs) will face mandatory challenger Joel "Love Child" Julio (34-1, 31KOs) on October 18 in Germany. Universum won the right to promote the bout on Thursday in Puerto Rico.

Julio was previously in heavy talks to face Sergio Martinez in the main event of HBO's triple-header on October 4, with the WBC interim-junior middleweight title at stake. The winner would have been in line to face the winner of Sergio Mora-Vernon Forrest, which takes place on September 13. He turned the Martinez fight down after both Mora and Forrest refused to sign an agreement to make an immediate defense against Julio. The downside for Julio is the Dzinziruk bout is for less money, taking place in the champion's side of town, and no American television outlet will be picking up the fight.

Dzinziruk is one of the better fighters of the 154-pound class. He holds good wins over Mamadou Thiam, Daniel Santos (WBA champ at 154), Lukas Konecny and Carlos Nascimento. Julio is 7-0 with 5KOs since the lackluster decision loss to Carlos Quintana in June of 06 - at welterweight. He beat Cosme Rivera in his following fight before a jump up in weight at the start of 2007, and then he picked up good wins over Cornelius Bundrage, Ishe Smith and Jose Varela. It's a big step up for Julio and the odds will be against him in Germany, but he can really make a statement if he pulls it off.

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