Former World Boxing Federation (WBF) World Light Heavyweight Champion Tamas Kovacs will be moving up in weight and take his first step back towards the top when he faces old foe Hamza Wandera from Uganda for the vacant WBF International Cruiserweight title on Friday October 31 in Trnava, Slovakia.
Kovacs, 24-1 (15), won a split decision over Wandera, 18-7-3 (13), in February 2011, after a brutal encounter where he had to climb off the canvas twice in the final round, and now he has an opportunity to do better in the rematch, and Wandera gets a chance to complete what he came so close to doing in the original encounter.
Also on the card, former WBF Womens World Super Middleweight Champion Zita Zatyko, 15-1-1 (11), will return to the ring and try to reclaim her old title when she takes on undefeated compatriot Szilvia Szabados, 5-0 (2), for the vacant championship.
Zatyko, nicknamed “The Giant”, lost the WBF World title in May of 2013 on points to Christina Hammer, one of the sports top Pound-For-Pound boxers, and has since been waiting for a second shot. Hammer went on to vacate the title to focus on her WBF World Middleweight crown, and it is now up for grabs for the Hungarian rivals.
In the third and final World Boxing Federation title fight on the massive show, undefeated Hungarian prospects Robert Kanalas and Benjamin Major will duke it out for the vacant International Flyweight title.
23-year-old Kanalas brings a 4-0 (2) record, while Major, at only 18, is less experienced and only 3-0 (2) since turning pro earlier this year, but both are considered promising hopes for the future and the winner will be taking a major step towards bigger things.
The WBF Championship tripleheader, headlined by Kovacs vs. Wandera II, will be promoted by Profibox-Promotions, and is set to also feature a solid undercard of interesting bouts with local talents.
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.
