European Boxing News: Kessler, Gerula, Kashtanov, Mock

By Per Ake Persson

WBC champion emeritius Mikkel Kessler has parted ways with manager and adviser Simon Lundt Hansen. The official reason is that Kessler, sidelined with a long term eye injury, doesn’t feels he needs a manager during this time.

A couple of weeks ago Kessler told Danish media how he had wasted a lot of money – if there´s a link here is an open question. The two have been friends for a long time and were at one time part of an excellent amateur team coming out of the CIK gym in Copenhagen.

Both turned pro but while Kessler stuck to boxing and developed into a superstar, Lundt Hansen retired at 5-1 and did some time for drug dealing. Later he surfaced as best friend of Kessler and chief adviser when Mikkel left Team Palle for Sauerland.

WBC female junior light champ Olivia Gerula is lined up to defend the title against Frida Wallberg November 27 in Stockholm. The fight will, after a special agreement with the WBC, be staged over eight two minute rounds in order to make it easier to get an exception from the current rule of maximum 12 minutes. However, this special permission is not there yet.

Ukrainian Stas Kashtanov and German Eduard Gutknecht are co-challengers for the vacant European super middleweight title. The EBU have set November 11 as deadline for purse bids or agreement. Gutknecht, 19-1, is signed to Universum while Kashtanov, 28-0, is with Union Box Team.

European Union super middle champ Lolenga Mock defends the title against Lorenzo Di Giacomo December 22 in Penne, Italy. Both men have been around a long time and the loser in this one won´t have many places to go boxingwise.

Is Derric Rossy a suitable challenger for any of the Klitschko´s? Manager Sal Musumeci thinks so but says that whenever he´s in touch with K2 / KMG he gets the reply that Rossy won´t be accepted by German TV (RTL) after the loss to Aleksandre Dimitrenko. That was years ago and Derric is a different fighter now, says Musumeci, who however acknowledges that the problem is rather that Dimitrenko have failed to develop into a genuine contender despite the early promise and the loss to him doesn’t look good.

The Jackson Boxing Club, headed by Louis de Vries, promotes the Said Ouali vs Randall Bailey fight December 10 in Antwerp. It´s named after Antwerp big star Jackson Osei Bonsu but Jackson is no longer promoted by the company that bears his name. Instead, Osei Bonsu and his coach Renald De Vulder have formed another promotional outfit that makes its debut November 11 in Deurne with Jackson, a huge ticket seller, headlining.

The results of the sudden boxing boom in Belarus reported in a previous column could be seen in Poland this past weekend: On a show in Jaworzno one Pavel Staravoitau, two months into his pro career and with a claimed (via boxrec) record of 3-3-1 got a shot at an obscure title and got stopped in two. On the undercard, Andrei Charnou with a claimed record of 6-0 with five first round stoppages got knocked out in one by 1-0 Robert Swierzbinski.

Sauerland promotes its annual show at a shopping center in Berlin tomorrow. It´s free entrance and the show isn´t announced until now to avoid huge crowds. Light heavy Artur Hein, back after a knee injury that caused his first loss as a pro, headlines.