European Beat Report (10-31-09)

by Dafs117

In the first European Beat Report, we take a look at the upcoming fights around the continent.

Former cruiserweight champion David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs)’s heavily hyped quest for heavyweight supremacy heats up this month as he challenges Russia’s Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) on November 7. In a bout that’s on Pay Per View and named David vs. Goliath for obvious reasons, the Russian will defend his WBA crown for the second time in his second reign as champion. He returns to a venue where he outpointed former WBO titlist Sergei Lyakhovic (23-3, 14 KOs) in 2008 in a lethargic WBA Eliminator. The Nuernberg Arena should be full of 10,000 fight fanatics come November 7.

The Super 6 Boxing Classic Tournament kicked-off in Berlin last month with Arthur Abraham (31-0, 25 KOs) knocking out Jermain Taylor (28-4-1, 17 KOs) to gain maximum points in the first stage. The unique tournament features WBC Champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KOs) and speedy American switch-hitter Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KOs) who split the judges at the Trent FM Arena. Luckily, with some home-cooking, Froch emerged the winner to give the Europeans a 2-0 lead over the Americans. Froch will face Calzaghe foe Mikkel Kessler (42-1, 32 KOs) in a possible unification bout if the Dane defeats unbeaten Olympian Andre Ward (19-0, 12 KOs) on November 21.

On the undercard, Serbian cruiserweight Enad Licina (17-2, 10 KOs) was upset by Yoan Pablo Hernandez (20-1, 11 KOs) and dropped a unanimous decision to the Cuban.

Undefeated Cameroon born French middleweight Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (21-0, 14 KOs) won every round in his 10 round contest against Brazilian Jeferson Luis Goncalo (19-6-3, 10 KOs). On the same date, undefeated heavyweight Yakup Saglam (22-0, 19 KOs) continued his slow rise through the heavyweight division with a fifth round stoppage victory over Ladislav Kovarik (8-4, 4 KOs).

Former IBF Cruiserweight Tomasz Adamek (39-1, 27 KOs) proved that he’s the new poster boy of Polish boxing by stopping Andrew Golota (41-8-1, 33 KOs) in the fifth round in front of 17,000 fans at the Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland. Light middleweight Damian Jonak (23-0-1, 17 KOs) fought for an eight round draw against Mariusz Cendrowski (17-2-2, 7 KOs) on the undercard.

Russia’s lightweight star Dmitry Ganiev (11-0-1, 5 KOs) was impressive in his disposal of Fashan 3K Battery (59-10-2, 35 KOs) with a spectacular 22 second knockout victory. As chief support, Denis Bakhtov (31-5, 20 KOs) continued his impressive form which includes an upset first round knockout win over German Steffen Kretschmann (14-1, 13 KOs) with a comprehensive fourth round stoppage of Sherzod Mamajanov (6-11, 2 KOs).

November is a busy month all round for boxing.

Paul McCloskey (19-0, 9 KOs) fights Soulymane M’Baye (38-3-1, 21 KOs) for the European light welterweight belt in Northern Ireland on November 6. On the undercard, Martin Lindsay (14-0, 6 KOs) will fight against an unknown opponent and Steve Williams (8-0, 3 KOs) and Michael Grant (12-0-1, 1 KO) will compete for the vacant English light welterweight title.

Yakup Saglam (22-0, 19 KOs) fights the dreaded TBA on November 7 in Bayern, Germany. On the undercard of Haye-Valuev, cruiserweight prospect Alexander Frenkel (20-0, 16 KOs) faces Kelvin Davis (24-10-3, 17 KOs). Taras Bidenko (26-3, 12 KOs) makes his comeback from his stoppage defeat to ‘friend’ Denis Boystov (26-0, 21 KOs) against prospect Robert Helenius (9-0, 5 KOs). Former titlist Sergei Lyakhovic (23-3, 14 KOs) makes his ring return against journeyman Jeremy Bates (22-16-1, 18 KOs).

Hopefully on a lucky Friday the 13^th, Matthew Hatton (37-4-1, 14 KOs) will challenge against Lovermore N’Dou (47-11-1, 31 KOs) for the IBO light welterweight belt. Robert Norton (31-4-1, 19 KOs) will also defend his Commonwealth cruiserweight title.

On the 20^th of November, middleweight prospect Andy Lee (19-1, 14 KOs) will make his homecoming against Affif Belghecham (19-3-1, 4 KOs). Andre Sarritzu (29-4-4, 11 KOs) will fight for the vacant European flyweight title against Christophe Rodrigues (15-15-3, 12 KOs) in front of his home crowd.

Ukranian middleweight Yuriy Nuzhenko (29-1-1, 14 KOs) will fight a 10 rounder in his native country on the 20^th of November.

Rendall Munroe (19-1, 8 KOs) will defend his European Super Bantamweight title for the fifth time against Simone Maludrottu (30-2, 11 KOs) in Nottingham on the 20^th. Olympian Tony Jeffries (4-0, 3 KOs) and heavyweight prospect Tom Dallas (7-0, 5 KOs) fight on the undercard.

WBC Cruiserweight titlist Giacobbe Fragomeni (26-1-1, 10 KOs) will defend against WBO light heavyweight title-holder Zsolt Erdei (30-0, 17 KOs) in Germany on November 21. On the same date, Malik Bouziane (12-1, 1 KO) will defend his European bantamweight title for the second time against Emiliano Salvini (13-8-1, 2 KOs).

Heavyweight WBO Inter-Continental belt-holder Alexander Dimitrenko (29-1, 19 KOs) will fight for the first time since his defeat to Eddie Chambers (33-1, 18 KOs) against Luan Krasniqi (30-4-1, 14 KOs) in a rematch of their very short bout last year. In a competitive cruiserweight fight, Alexander Alexeev (18-1, 16 KOs) brawls against Grigory Drozd (32-1, 24 KOs) for a shot at the winner of the WBO title fight between Marco Huck (26-1, 20 KOs) and Ola Afolabi (14-1-3, 6 KOs).