***World Championship double-header in Oldenburg: Hernandez to defend IBF title against Afolabi***
Boxing fans can look forward to a double-header of world championship action on December 6 at the EWE Arena in Oldenburg, Germany. In addition to Juergen Braehmer’s scheduled WBA World Light Heavyweight title defence against Pawel Glazewski, Cuban cruiserweight king Yoan Pablo Hernandez (29-1, 14 KOs) will co-headline with a mandatory defence of his IBF World title against Ola Afolabi (21-3-4, 10 KOs).
‘’Team Sauerland stands for first-class boxing entertainment,’’ said Frederick Ness, Managing Director of Sauerland Event. ‘’This is something we wanted to emphasise by bringing fans two world championship fights on December 6.’’
Yoan Pablo Hernandez, is back in action following a successful defence of his IBF title against Firat Arslan in August. The ‘Iron Man’ is looking forward to an immediate return having previously suffered periods of inactivity due to illness and injury.
‘’It seems that all my bad luck has run out,’’ joked Hernandez. ‘’After my last fight I was able to get straight back into the gym and start preparing for my next challenge. This has been the first time I’ve been able to do that since early 2011, when I beat Herelius. Now, I want to show everyone that I belong at the top of the cruiserweight division by beating my mandatory challenger Afolabi.’’
Afolabi is no stranger to German boxing fans having previously made life difficult for WBO Champion Marco Huck. The American-based Brit scored one draw and two narrow losses in a memorable trilogy against Hernandez’s long-time training mate.
Hernandez’s coach Ulli Wegner, who was in Huck’s corner for each of his encounters with Afolabi, has offered the following warning to his protégé ahead of the world championship clash in Oldenburg. ‘’Afolabi knows every trick in the book – he’s a very experienced fighter,’’ said the legendary 72 year-old coach. ‘’If Pablo turns up at anything less than 100% he could be in serious trouble.’’
Hernandez, who also holds the prestigious ‘Ring Magazine’ cruiserweight title, has attempted to ease his coach’s concerns, promising: ‘’On December 6, I will give Mr. Wegner his first clear victory in a fight against Afolabi!’’
Tickets for the Team Sauerland show at the EWE Arena in Oldenburg are available at eventim.de.
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.
