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© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

Saturday night at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, two British boxers fought on an historical boxing occasion due to the number of people that had packed in the venue.

Paul Butlin and Michael Sprott boxed on the undercard of the Wladimir Klitschko vs. Ruslan Chagaev world heavyweight title headliner in front of a massive crowd of 61,000.

Butlin of Melton Mowbray faced Johnathan Banks of Detroit in an eight round heavyweight contest. More...

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© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

Last night, at the Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany, 61,000 people enjoyed a night of boxing and entertainment in the home of Schalke F.C.

It was indeed the biggest and most lavish boxing event I’ve ever witnessed.

There were seven fights in total - but of course - everyone was there to see the Heavyweight clash between immensely popular Wladimir Klitschko and Ruslan Chagaev.

Michael Buffer made the usual introductions and entering the ring first - to the sounds of ‘Guess who’s back?’ - came the Challenger Chagaev proudly sporting a Schalke F.C. tshirt. Shoots of fire and sparkling fireworks lit up the arena (inside!) to welcome the Champion who entered the ring amidst an entourage of red-track-suits with the three belts held aloft. More...

© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

All eyes in the boxing world will be on Veltins Arena tonight in Gelsenkirchen, Germany as WBO/IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko puts his belts and top standing in the division on the line against WBA champion in recess Ruslan Chagaev.

Klitschko, 52-3 (46), comes into the bout after having trained for ex-cruiserweight world champion David Haye and now must adjust for a completely different opponent in the form of Chagaev.

Where Haye is a big punching, fast-handed right hander who likes to go after opponents with all guns blazing, Chagaev, 25-0-1 (17), is a crafty, patient southpaw with less power than Haye but better pure boxing skill. More...

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© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

At 2.00 PM this afternoon, at the impressive Karstadt Sports Store in Dortmund, Germany, media and fans gathered to witness the official weigh-in of Wladimir Klitschko and Rusland Chagaev ahead of tomorrow night's heavyweight contest at Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirschen.

Introduced by Michael Buffer, both men made their entrances to huge support from the waiting crowd. Wladimir arrived wearing his red Team Klitschko tracksuit alongside trainer Emmanuel Steward.

Wladimir’s elder brother Vitali, the WBC Heavyweight Champion, came along to keep an eye on proceedings.

Looking ’steely-cool’, IBF/WBO Champion Wladimir towered over his opponent, Chagaev, who looked far more relaxed than he appeared at Monday's press conference. More...

Earlier this week at a press conference held at Real Hypermarket in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Irish boxer Andy Lee confirmed to SaddoBoxing that he was ‘feeling great’ and ‘looking forward to Saturday night’ when he is scheduled to fight Latvian Olegs Fedotovs in an eight round middleweight contest at Veltins Arena.

A smiling Lee looked happy as he took time out to pose for photographers after the conference between headliners Wladimir Klitschko and Ruslan Chagaev, who will contend for three of the four major heavyweight titles on Saturday.

Southpaw Lee has an impressive 17 win record with 13 of those wins coming by way of knockout and just 1 loss.

Born in Limerick, Ireland, Lee now resides in Michigan, U.S.A. and trains under Emmanual Stewart.

Also on the undercard, British boxer Paul Butlin faces Johnathan Banks of Michigan in an eight round heavyweight contest and Michael Sprott of Reading, England faces Alexander Ustinov of Atlanta, Georgia.

Sprott has some impressive names on his record which includes Saturdays’ headliner Chagaev, who Sprott lost out to three years ago.

European Light Welter Champ Colin Lynes went to Pala Ruffini in Torino, Italy to defend his crown against former titlist and two-time world title challenger Gianluca Branco last night but the wily 37 year old Italian proved to have too much experience for the Londoner, who was relived of his title via split decision in the headlining bout of a big Friday night show.

Lynes used his youth advantage to start off well and even canvassed the seasoned ex-champ in the second frame but expended too much energy in the process and was outfought in the middle and later periods of the contest.

Branco, who gave Arturo Gatti a tough fight in a failed bid for the WBC belt four years ago, convinced two of the three judges of his superiority, but just, as they both turned in a 114-113 card in his favor while the third judge had it 115-113 for Lynes. More...

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© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

On Friday night, Irish-man Martin Rogan became the first ‘Prizefighter’ winner after successfully defeating Alex Ibbs of Stoke in the quarter-final, Dave Ferguson of North Tyneside in the semi-final and bookies favourite - David Dolan of Sunderland, in the final.

Ironically, aged 36, Belfast Boxer ‘Rogie’ was the oldest of the eight boxers! Rogan received a cheque for £25,000 and the Prize-fighter trophy as well as significantly increasing his profile in a short space of time.

The York Hall, Bethnal Green, England, was packed with an excited crowd awaiting the first of this new style boxing tournament billed as ‘The Prize Fighter Series: The Heavyweights’ promoted by Barry Hearn of Matchroom Sports. Consisting of eight boxers, four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a final - each contest of three x three minute rounds, all on the same night.

Rogan’s first opponent was Alex Ibbs of Stoke, aged just 22 - it was a match-up of the youngest versus the eldest contender! More...

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© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

The Prizefighter Series was a fantastic occasion on Friday night at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, London England. The Matchroom Sports promoted event consisted of seven boxing contests to find the winner of the first Prizefighter Trophy and a cheque for £25,000.

Waiting backstage should one of the scheduled participants get an injury were boxers Derek Chisora and Dave Ingleby, hoping that they would get a 'wild-card' chance to compete as replacements.

The first quarter-final of the night was between big guy Dave Ferguson of North Shields and the more-experienced Billy Bessey of Portsmouth.

Both fighters go all out for it, right from the bell, but Bessey goes down from a big right punch after just 20 seconds of the opening round. He takes the count and continues boxing, but a body shot sends him slightly off-balance in the closing seconds. More...

Barry Hearn of Matchroom Sports chaired the final press conference yesterday for the ‘PrizeFighter’ Boxing show which takes place at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, tonight.

Eight British Heavyweight Boxers will be competing in 3-round contests, the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final - all taking place in one exciting night of boxing.

The ‘brainchild’ of Mr. Hearn - this revolutionary new style of Boxing Tournament is hoped to raise the profile of British Heavyweight Boxing.

The Boxers competing tonight are Billy Bessey (Portsmouth) Paul Butlin (Melton Mowbray) David Dolan (Sunderland) David Ferguson (North Shields) Alex Ibbs (Stoke) Colin Kenna (Southampton) Darren Morgan (Swansea) Martin Rogan (Belfast).

This morning - the live draw took place for the ʽPrizefighter Seriesʼ, which takes place this coming Friday, April 11 at the York Hall, Bethnall Green, London.

The ʽbrainchildʼ of Barry Hearn of Matchroom Sports, it will see eight heavyweight contenders slug it out in a tournament-style fight night in which the quarter, semi and final will take place all in one night of exciting boxing.

It will be a case of ʽthe last man standing - takes the prize!ʼ - the prize being a cheque for £25,000

Bookies' favourite, David Dolan faces Darren Morgan and their three-round contest will be the last of the quarter-finals.

The quarter-final match-ups are:

Dave Ferguson (North Shields) vs. Bill Bessey (Portsmouth)
Alex Ibbs (Stoke) vs. Martin Rogan (Belfast)
Paul Butlin (Melton Mowbray) vs. Colin Kenna (Southampton)
Darren Morgan (Swansea) vs. David Dolan (Sunderland)

Werringtonʼs 22 year old heavyweight Alex Ibbs will become the latest Stoke-on-Trent based boxer to seek to win honours in a high profile event. Alex takes part in the first ʽPrizefighter Seriesʼ which takes place at York Hall, Bethnal Green on April 11. More...