Konstantin Airich sparring with Virchis to prepare for Danny Williams!

When German Interim-Champion Konstantin Airich (9-0-1, 8 kos) faces “Brixton Bomber” Danny Williams (38-6-0, 30 kos) in Bilbao next week (Friday, May 30th) it seems very likely that the fight doesn’t go the distance. Both men are well known for their heavy hands – though Williams is far more experienced, of course. The question will be: Who punches harder?

In preparation for Williams ARENA-CEO Ahmet Öner invited no other but Wladimir Virchis (24-1-0, 20 kos) to spar with Airich. Former European champion Virchis and the protégée of trainer Hans-Jürgen Witte did about 40 rounds of sparring in the past two weeks. Virchis is actually preparing to fight ARENA’s Juan Carlos Gomez in September but made the way to the ARENA-gym nonetheless when he was invited by Ahmet Öner.

“It was a great experience and great fun as well”, says Airich. “Of course, we both didn’t punch with full power but worked on our technique. I am pretty sure that it was very good training for both of us though.”

Danny Williams most probably doesn’t care much about who his next opponent is sparring with. The 34-year-old veteran who knocked out Mike Tyson in 2004 is already scheduled to defend his British heavyweight title against John McDremott (25-3-0, 16 kos) on July 4th.

“I kind of hope that he has that fight already in mind”, states “Sandman” Airich. “Maybe if he’s not one-hundred-percent focused on me I can find a gap and send him to sleep. I definitely don’t want to be just a steppingstone on Danny Williams’ way back to the top – I will try to make him stumble.”