The German box fans have a real highlight to look forward to. The Sporthalle Hamburg will host a spectacular night of boxing on September 29. The main event of the evening will be the WBA-Heavyweight World Championship between Alexander Povetkin (24-0, 16 KOs) and mandatory challenger Hasim Rahman (50-7-2, 41 KOs). The next highlight will see European heavyweight champion Kubrat Pulev (16-0, 8 KOs) take on Alexander Ustinov (27-0, 21 KOs) from Russia.
“We were going to fight in Hamburg on July 14. But we had to cancel the event due to an injury sustained by the challenger Hasim Rahman. Now it seems that Rahman is back to full fitness and we are happy to be fighting in Hamburg on September 29,” said the delighted Managing Director of Sauerland Event, Chris Meyer.
This will be Povetkin´s second outing in Hamburg, located in the north of Germany. In November of 2005 he won a one-sided decision against Canadian born Stephane Tessier. “I still remember this fight really well. After that, I have been to Hamburg on several occasions visiting my promoter Kalle Sauerland,” said Povetkin. The 32-year-old is planning on delivering a great fight against the former champion from the USA who once beat Lennox Lewis.
“This will be my third defence since winning the title last year against Ruslan Chagaev. I have been preparing a long time for this fight. Obviously I was disappointed after Rahman pulled out in July due to his injury. But that is in the past. Now my whole focus is on September 29 and defending the world championship in Hamburg.”
The second Highlight of the evening will see Kubrat Pulev entering the ring in Hamburg. The 31-year-old won the EBU-Title against Alexander Dimitrenko in Erfurt on May 5. The prodigy of coach Otto Ramin, who trains in Berlin, has a huge following in his homeland Bulgaria. Now his next mission is to defend the European and IBF International Title against the Russian colossus Ustinov who weighs over 300 lbs on September 29 in Hamburg. But the winner will not only be in possession of the belts but he will also move up to number one in the rankings of the IBF and is one step closer to a fight for the world championship.
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
