A very even and tough main event fight ensued as two Hungarian boxers, Laszlo Papp (pictured left) and Tamas Popovics (pictured right), fought for the WBF Intercontinental Lightheavyweight Title at Pro Box Promotions debut in Papa, Hungary on 20 January 2007.

As a result the judges awarded a split points decision to Popovics with Béla Flórián of Hungary scoring 115-114, Zbigniew Lagosz of Poland 113-115 and Miklós Döry also of Hungary 115-113.

This now brings Popovics record to 22 wins (7 via KO), 3 losses and 1 draw for a total of 26 fights. Also officiating for the World Boxing Foundation on the evening was Ernst Salzgeber of Austria as referee and Pawel Kardyni of Poland as supervisor.

*Note: Click the thumbnail images to view larger size.

By Olaf Schröder

For most foreign visitors, Berlin is a fascinating city with many attractions – but when your name is Richel Hersisia and you are a professional heavyweight boxer with big aspirations in 2007, then the association with the German capital is more likely to be that of blood, sweat and many abstinences. So it will be for the Dutch champion, 28-1 (22 KO’s), as he arrived back at the Universum gym of his trainer Torsten Schmitz today. “The plan is for Richel to fight again in March and until that time, he will stay with Torsten to prepare,” revealed manager Olaf Schroeder of Fight Production, “We have agreed with (German promoter) Universum to intensify our cooperation with Richel and we are looking for a tough opponent who can prepare Richel for a run at the big-time this coming summer.”

In his second fight after signing a promotional agreement with German powerhouse Universum, the 32-year-old former WBF champion looked like his old self when blowing out Brazilian Adenilson Rodriguez in the second round last October. It was Hersisia’s comeback after shoulder surgery and the Dutchman from Den Haag proved that all medical problems are firmly behind him now.

By Ronnie Nathanielsz
http://boxingscene.com

Lanky Bart Abapo battles tough Nigerian Fatai Onikeke for the WBF Intercontinental junior welterweight title on February 16 at the Knox Netball Center in Melbourne in what promises to be an exciting bout.

Onekeke who is now based in Australia suffered a stunning seventh round TKO defeat at the hands of hard-hitting Filipino Ranee Ganoy last September 15 and is determined to avenge that loss against Abapo.

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By Bob Trieger
Full Court Press
Las Vegas, Nevada

Unbeaten Cruiserweight BJ. “El Palogrosso” Flores plans on going from prospect to contender with an impressive winning performance against Chris “Cold Steel” Thomas for the WBF and NBA cruiserweight titles at Knox Arena in Olive Branch, Mississippi.

Flores (17-0-1 12KOs), reigning WBF All-American champion, is rated No. 26 by the WBC, as well as No. 3 by the NABF and No. 5 by the IBA. “I wanted to make a statement against an opponent who poses a real threat,” Flores said. “I wanted this fight, he wanted this fight and January 13th we’ll answer all of the questions. A win should get me into the top 15 and after that we’ll see which way my team wants to go. I’m not looking past Thomas, who is a good puncher and former NABA champion, but I’d like to get a title shot against (IBF champion) Krzysztof Wlodarchzyk. I’d go to Poland to fight him. (Steve) Cunningham wasn’t robbed in his fight agains Wlodarchzyk. He didn’t land enough clean punches. When you go to the other guy’s country you need to knock him out or dominate. You need to grab the brass ring and Cunningham didn’t dominate the fight. Wlodarchzyk is perfect for me; he comes straight ahead and doesn’t move too much. A fight between us would have a lot of action.”

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Terry Ray, a former WBF World Cruiserweight champion, is going to promote WBF bouts in Terre Haute, Indiana this year. For all of Terry’s boxing history and achievements, (plus a very short bio) please click the link below.
http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=006490

*Photo: Terry Ray.

*Photo: Former WBF champion champion in action against Kenny Keene with Angelo Dundee in the background.

*Click thumbnails for larger images.

•Boxer of the Year : Gyorgy Hidvegi (Hungary)

•South African boxer of the year : Zolani Marali