European Boxing News: Sdunek, Hoffman, Pianeta, Macklin, Pirog

By Per Ake Persson

Renowned trainer Fritz Sdunek must, for health reasons step back as trainer for the likes of Zsolt Erdei, Sebastian Zbik, Aleksander Dimitrenko, Dennis Boytsov and others, but will remain head coach for Vitali Klitschko, writes Bild Zeitung.

The 62 year old Sdunek battled cancer but recovered and was recently suffered from heart problems. Fritz, a top class amateur and trainer in East Germany, was for some time during the 90´s the second coach in Universum when Chuck Talhami was chief trainer.

But after Dariusz Michalczewski´s bad showing against Graciano Rocchigiani in their first fight back in 1996, Sdunek took over and his training methods have worked almost to a perfection.

Other trainers may know more about technical stuff, but when it comes to conditioning and tactics, Sdunek is second to none and he is largely responsible for developing the effective style the Klitschkos. Outside of the Klitschkos, Sdunek has trained top class fighters like Juan Carlos Gomez, Artur Grigorian and Isvan Kovacs.

It will be Czech light heavy Tomas Adamek who takes on WBA Intercontinental champ Vyacheslav Uzelkov on October 21 in Kiev when K2 East promotes another big show. Middleweight Maksim Bursak faces Belorus Sergey Khomitskyi in a non-title ten rounder. The undercard feature big heavyweight Alexander Ustinov as well as welters Valery Brazhnik and Viktor Plotnikov.

Veteran heavyweight Timo Hoffmann is now the mandatory challenger for European Union champ Francesco Pianeta. Both are Germans and were once stablemates in Sauerland Event but Timo, a loser to Francois Botha last time out, is now with SES.

French prospects Khedafi Djelkhir, 3-0 and a featherweight, and Charles Sow, 1-0, a lightweight, will both fight on the undercard to Moreno vs Patrac November 7 in Agde.

Adriano Cardarelle is off the IBF Youth middleweight title fight against Dominik Britsch on the undercard to Taylor vs Abraham on Saturday in Berlin. Stepping in at short notice is Belgian Michael Recloux.

Heavyweight Gbenga Oloukun, who upset Lamon Brewster in August, faces Rene Dettweiler in what shapes up like an interesting fight between two guys with inflated records at the crossroads in their respective careers. Young cruiser Martin Kempf, who was stopped in his last fight, is in against Frenchman Parfait Amougui Amougou and it could be tough for the Germain.

Next up for European middleweight champ Matthew Macklin is likely to be the mandatory defence of the title against Russian Dimitry Pirog. Macklin is of course looking for a world title shot but dangerous punchers generally have to work their way into mandatory status before getting there.

French junior middle Husseyn Bayram, 31-3, has signed a three year contract with AMI Production. Bayram has challenged for the European title twice and recently won the “Grand Tournoi” in France with three inside the distance victories.

The WBC eliminator at junior welter between Jojo Dan and Ajose Olusegun that was set for Bucharest last weekend was postponed at short notice and will now go ahead November 17, reports Gankor Promotion.