Sauerland goes 2-for2 in WBA purse bids

Two WBA purse bids were held moments ago in Panama. In the heavyweight division, Sauerland Event won the right to promote Nikolai Valuev-John Ruiz II, and immediately announced its intention to stage the fight on August 30, 2001 in Berlin, Germany. The winning bid for the vacant title bout was $2,106,401. Planning heavyweight fights always includes plenty of backroom manueverings, but this purse bid acquired extra drama when Universum turned up at the bid even though the German company promotes neither Valuev nor Ruiz. Universum was narrowly outbid, as it submitted a losing bid of $2,006,000. Don King finished third with a bid of $1,000,010, just ten dollars over the WBA heavyweight minimum.  “I am happy my team won and that the fight will be staged in Germany,” Valuev said in a prepared statement from his home in St. Petersburg. “Berlin is very special to me. That is where I defeated Ruiz in 2005 to become world champion."  The vacant title fight was arranged when Ruslan Chagaev was stripped of the title due to numerous postponements of his mandatory defense obligations against Valuev. Chagaev remains the champion in recess and could fight the winner if his injuries allow him to return to action. In the super middleweight division,  Sauerland outbid Mogens Palle to win the right to promote Mikkel Kessler's mandatory defense against Danilo Haussler. Sauerland won the right to promote Kessler-Haussler by submitting a $1,140,001 bid, compared to $777,777 by Palle (apparently 7 was not Palle's lucky number today). The WBA ruled that Kessler must defend the title against Haussler and give Haussler 40% of the purse because Kessler skipped over Haussler to fight a lower rated contender (Dmitri Sartison) when Anthony Mundine vacated the title to move down to middleweight. Kessler knocked out Sartison but the WBA ordered Kessler-Haussler over the objection of Mogens Palle, who promotes Kessler. source: sauerland event