Huge International Scene

By Per Ake Persson

10/11/2004

Huge International Scene

WBA supermiddle champ Manny Siaca is a little taller than his Danish challenger Mikkel Kessler and have a longer reach too - something that may prove to be important as the stylish Dane prefers to keep it on outside. Mikkel´s speed and reflexes are on the other hand exellent. There´s a lot at stake for Team Palle on Friday night at the Brondby Hall in Copenhagen as they reportedly have no minimum guarantee from PPV partners Viasat. It´s already been made clear by Mogens Palle that the show will end up in the red following the financial demands made by Siaca when the opponent was switched from Mads Larsen to Mikkel Kessler. How bad it will be is open though - and should Kessler win chances are good next year will be better. Boxing in Scandinavia have gone downhill though ever since the Tyson v Nielsen extravaganza in 2001 in what can be described as a prolonged "hangover" and one by one Team Palle´s rival promoters have been forced out of business. A comeback of sorts for professional boxing is likely as the current soccer boom simply can´t last but when is difficult to say and it´s not likely that the heights from the days of Brian Nielsen will be reached in the near future.

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Swedes Benjamin Kalinovic and Ronald Kigula fight at the Sky Bar in Belgrade, Serbia, November 25 with ex-pro and businessman Milan Mirkovic co-promoting the event with local partners. Opponent for Kalinovic, a debutant, is for now Vuk Mitic, a 3-0 jr middle, but it might be change into Vuk´s brother Bogdan, 2-0. Kigula, at slightly over lightheavy, face Dragan Janusevic, also unbeaten with a background in kickboxing.
 
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Lolenga Mock, who challenge Giovanni Alvarez for the vacant EBA 175 lb title on Friday in Copenhagen, didn´t just give WBO interim supermiddle titleholder Mario Veit a run for his money when they fought late September, he also served as Veit´s chief sparring before his impressive win over Charles Brewer this past weekend.
 
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Jaakko Helminen, manager of Kai Kauramaki, who was stopped in two rounds by Joszef Nagy November 6 wasn´t entirely happy about the fight in Szentes: -My guy slipped in the first and it was ruled a knockdown. Kai controlled the action but was caught on the eyeball, there were no cut, but Kai said the pain was incredible and he was counted out (in the second).
 
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London-based Ugandan jr welter Sam "Rocky" Rokundo, who was Swedish amateur champ while residing here, turned pro last week with a fine win over tough Welshman Henry Janes and plans to have another outing before Christmas. Sam will then be on the next event at the Café Royal in London January 27.
 
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Youssef Djibaba defends the French jr light title November 19 in Marseille November 19 against Ali Oubaali.
 
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Ex-WBO jr welter champ Giovanni Parisi have cancelled his comeback set for December 18. Parisi retired in 00 and came back last year for one fight but haven´t fought since February of 03.
 
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Universum have now officially announced WBA 175 lb champ Fabrice Tiozzo´s defence against Dariusz Michalczewski for February 26 at the 15 000-seater Color Line Arena in Hamburg.
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