By Alexey Sukachev

27-year old Ukrainian heavyweight Oleg Platov (28-1, 22 KOs) seems to be next-in-line to fight red-hot heavyweight prospect and former amateur standout Kubrat Pulev (8-0, 5 KOs), 28, on June 5 in an undercard of Sebastyan Syvester vs. Roman Karmazin IBF middleweight championship.

“Germans offered us a six-rounder against Pulev for May 1st saying he wouldn’t be ready to fight ten rounds up until the fifth of June. I have spoken to my manager Ivaylo (Gotzev) and we’ve decided to take this offer and to fight Pulev in June even though it’s not very profitable for me both in terms of ratings and money. But I wasn’t offered anything better than that”, wrote Platov in his blog.

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According to azerisport.com, WBO cruiserweight champion Marko Huck (29-1, 22 KOs) can come back to the ring no later than on June 5 to defend his title against Azerbaijani veteran and former world title challenger Ali Ismailov (17-3-1, 12 KOs). [Editor's Note: a source in Sauerland has denied circulated stories that Huck is fighting on June 5]

“I’m waiting for the news from my promoter Alexander Yagupov of Jab Promotions. If the contract is signed I’ll fly over to St. Petersburg in the midst of May to finish my training process there”, said Ismailov in an exclusive interview. “The negotiations for the fight with Huck are right under way and I hope that everything will be resolved. My promoter is discussing the financial side of the deal now, and I’m watching Huck tapes and preparing to bring some fight to him”.

If the bout cannot be made, Ismailov, who turns 36 on tomorrow, has newly-crowned EBU champion Enzo Maccarinelli on his radar.

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Fiodor Lapin, who trains heavyweight world title challenger (and the next Vitali Klitschko opponent) Albert Sosnowski and former cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (both of Poland), revealed to The Polska Times that Sosnowski is highly motivated and gives so much hell to his partners during sparring sessions that he is forced to be restrained.

“He is so hungry for the upcoming battle that he is going right after his rivals in the gym”, commented Lapin. “However, these sparring sessions are intended for another purpose. Albert learns how to work with higher, bigger opponents. We want to correct our footwork and our balance. We have planned something for Klitschko but I’ll not tell you our secrets”.

Polish journalists, however, were able to know that Albert Sosnowski is working with 6’8’’ David Price (5-0, 4 KOs) and Evgueny Orlov (11-7-1, 8 KOs), 6’9’’.

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Talented Russian light heavyweight prospect Vasily Lepikhin (7-0, 4 KOs) will defend his national 175lb belt on May 15 in Kabardinka against tough-as-nails journeyman Fuad Muradov (1-4-2). Lepikhin, who is also the Baltic Boxing Union titlist, will comeback after a bad streak of injuries, which has prevented him from fighting since July 2009. Super featherweight banger Fedor Papazov (4-0, 3 KOs) will step into the ring against Kazan-based Kyrgyz Shavkhat Madaminov (9-2, 3 KOs) in a scheduled six-rounder. Prospects Dmitry Mikhailenko (4-0, 1 KO) and Karen Tevosyan (14-1-3, 9 KOs) both will also be eligible for watching in separate fights. German Titov and Nikolay Galkin will co-promote this tiny tournament.