European Boxing News: Arslan, Graf, Jones, Beyer, Erdei, Dzinziruk, Stecca

By Per Ake Persson

WBA cruiser champ Firat Arslan defends the title May 3 at the Hanns Martin Schleyer Hall in Stuttgart. WIBF / GBU junior bantam queen Alesia Graf co-headlines and heavyweight Aleksander Dimitrenko returns after a brief layoff due to a promotional dispute.

Middles Ruben Diaz and Alexander Sipos clash for the vacant IBF Intercontinental title in Pamplona, Spain, April 18, with Stock Eventos promoting.

Roy Jones, Jr, will be ringside in Munich on Friday to check out ex-WBC super middle champ Markus Beyer return to the ring after 18 months out. According to Arena, a fight between Jones and Beyer is possible to make even in Germany. Beyer faces Murat Machmudov, a Russian based in Germany, on Friday.

German super middle Jurgen Brahmer takes on Frenchman Karim Bennama April 5 in Duesseldorf in a supporting bout to Sturm vs Pittman.

Former WBA super bantam and European feather champ Loris Stecca was rescued this weekend as he tried to committ suicide. According to Italian media, the ex-champ has faced serious financial and family problems of late. Late last year, news broke that Stecca, close to 48 and out of the ring since 1988, wanted to comeback but he was denied a license in both San Marino and Hungary. Italy has had an age limit for pros for a long time now.

The undercard to Ragosina vs Perozzi March 15 in Magdeburg feature welter Marco Cattikas, heavy Vladimir Tereshkin, the return of Dutch female star Esther Schouten and giant Russian Evgeny Orlov. It will be crowded among ringside officials with seven – WIBF, WBA, GBU, WIBA, WBC, WIBC and IWBF, world bodies represented to supervise the main event.

WBO light heavy champ Zsolt Erdei is now officially on to defend the title April 26 in Dresden in a triple header promoted by Universum. Sergey Dzinziruk will finally, after two postponements, defend the WBO junior middle crown against Czech Lukas Konecny while Russian heavy Dennis Boytsov faces American Robert Hawkins.

Serbian light heavy Dragan Janjusevic defends the IBF Intercontinental title April 28 in Belgrade. On the same bill, Norwegian junior welter Geir Inge Jorgensen could be challenging for the vacant WBF belt – possibly against Italian Alfredo Di Feto.

Arena´s big show in Munich on March 14 also has an interesting clash at heavy between Konstantin Airich and Alex Mazikin, who was a very good amateur and may still make it in the pros at European level.