European Boxing News: Levin, Helenius, Hatton, Belge, Johnson, Racz

By Per Ake Persson

It will be Swedish heavy Attila Levin that faces European Union champ Robert Helenius in Helsinki on November 27. Levin has been fighting out of Florida for his entire career but moved back to Stockholm a month ago. He´s been inactive for about a year now but in training for fights that for one reason or another never materialized.

Levin, 34-3, has been around for a long time, fought both of the Klitschkos in the amateurs and has scored some good wins in the pros but never really made it despite a lot of talent. It´s a last chance for him against Helenius, 14-0, who´s a hot prospect.

It´s an intriguing matchup and almost an all-Swedish one as Robert was born and raised in Stockholm before moving to Finland as a teenager. Levin will, as always, be trained by Luis Lagermann, who also hails from Stockholm but is based in Florida.

Ricky Hatton may down for a long count due to his personal problems but Hatton Promotions rolls on with Matthew Hatton defending the European welter title against Swiss Roberto Belge November 26 in Bolton, UK. Belge has previously held the IBC title but have a somewhat inflated record with many easy wins at home.

Hatton Promotions have however been forced to postpone its planned show in Minsk, Belarus, to October 21. Local man Sergey Rabchanko takes on decent Ukrainian Roman Dzhuman in the headliner – a non-title ten-rounder at junior middle.

Finnish junior middles Aki Selesma and Mika Joensuu clash for the vacant national title November 9 in Pori. The undercard features Aki´s twin brother Sami as well as veteran Kai Kauramaki.

The Super “4+2-1” super middle tournament has now the Road warrior, Glen Johnson, as a new member following Mikkel Kessler´s withdrawal. Johnson was in Denmark back in 2001 and sparred with Kessler, then an excellent prospect, and also with Mads Larsen and Rudy Markussen.

Felix Racz is back in boxing as manager for 6-0 prospect Istvan Szili. Racz headed Felix Promotion (and before that he worked with Unio Box Team along with his father) for a number of years promoting many big shows in Hungary before walking out of boxing a few years back – and it´s fair to say that Hungarian boxing hasn’t been the same since then.