Timur Ibragimov defeats Timo Hoffman in Germany

Mads Larsen W8 Hector J. Velazco... On the Zwickau, Germany undercard, former European super-middleweight champion Mads Larsen continued his impressive comeback run with a unanimous points victory over experienced veteran Hector Javier Velazco. Fighting for only the second time after a three-and-a-half-year break, Larsen used his superior boxing skills to keep the Argentine at bay throughout. "I am very happy. It was a good fight," the 34-year-old stated afterwards. "Just two or three more months and I will be as strong as I was before."

After a tentative opening, Larsen dominated the full eight rounds. He controlled the bout with his strong right hand before also starting to make impact with occasional southpaw lefts in the later rounds. He was ahead 80-73, 79-73 and 77-75 on the scorecards. "It was a strong performance by Mads considering he has been out of the ring for such a long time," manager Wilfried Sauerland lauded. "His right hand is impressive and will make a lot of things happen." Sauerland revealed the Danish star should be in for a European or world title fight by the end of the year or early in 2008. And coach Ulli Wegner praised: "He came to Germany to become world champion and we will help him to accomplish his goal. Mads did extremely well against Velazco, who briefly held a WBO middleweight title. He is such a skilled and intelligent boxer. There are great things ahead for him."

Timur Ibgragimov W10 Timo Hoffman Meanwhile on the same show, German heavyweight Timo Hoffman dropped a unanimous points decision against Timor Ibragimov, while Yoan Pablo Hernandez continued his winning streak with a first-round KO-victory over Thomas Hansvoll. René Dettweiler also stopped Valery Semishkur in less than three minutes (TKO 1). Also on the undercard, Alexander Frenkel cruised to an uncontested points victory over Pavol Polakovic in what spelled his first-ever live appearance on national German TV.