Arena Boxing: Juan Carlos Gomez Returns On June 4 Fight Card

On June 4th “The Black Panther” Juan Carlos Gomez (46-2, 36 kos) will return to action against Frankfurt based Turk Oezcan Cetinkaya (17-6-1, 11 kos) in Hattersheim, near Frankfurt, Germany.

The former WBC cruiserweight champion and heavyweight championship contender (in March 2009 vs. Vitali Klitschko) will headline the „7th annual Hattersheim Havoc“ at Karl-Eckel-Halle.

In the co-feature hard-hitting German prospect Konstantin Airich (14-2-2, 11 kos) takes on Alexander Kahl (15-5-1, 13 kos). The fights will be broadcasted live on Eurosport, starting at 9.00pm local time.

Ten days before stepping into the ring Gomez lashes out against the heavyweight scene at his training camp in Hamburg. “Everybody knows that the heavyweight division is a piece of crap at the moment“” states Gomez.

“But if it needed any further proof we all got it last weekend in Germany. The fight between Chagaev and Meehan was a disgrace. And the fight between Vitali and Sosnowski next weekend won’t be much better.”

“I know that I lost to Vitali clearly. And I also know that I am not in the shape of my life at the moment. But still I am a better boxer than all of the Chagaevs, Valuevs, Sosnowskis and Hayes out there. The Klitschkos are good fighters without a doubt but they mainly look so strong and dominant because they lack good competition.

“The other problem of the division is that the so called world class fighters don’t fight each other. I would take on anybody. But instead of fighting a name I have to step into the ring with a guy like Cetinkaya who isn’t close to my league.

“I surely don’t underestimate any opponent and I give him props for challenging me. But I would rather fight a big name. The only problem is: There are no big names out there instead of the Klitschkos!”

Gomez’ promoter Ahmet Öner agrees: “When I watched Chagaev vs. Meehan on TV I couldn’t even switch it off before falling asleep. The heavyweight division clearly needs some fresh blood and more excitement. I hope that Juan can make it back to his old class.

“He has been working very hard in the last couple of weeks. He lost twenty pounds after his comeback win against Alex Mazikin on March 27th (Gomez weighed in at a career high 255 lbs. for that fight). Judging from what I see in training Juan is very serious when he says he wants to show that he is one of the best in the world.

“Talking about the heavyweight scene in general I can promise that Odlanier Solis will shake up the division in the next twelve months. Solis is one of very few exciting fighters I see on the horizon. He will hopefully get the chance to become the first man to knock out Nikolai Valuev. After that we are ready to take on either Klitschko – and hopefully retire both of them.”