Arena Box-Promotion are now a major player in German boxing and have some elite fighters under their banner. We caught up with Arena’s press officer Malte Muller-Michaelis to get all the latest gossip on their stable.

FF: Greetings Malte, thanks in advance for your time. It’s been 2 months since we sat together in Frankfurt, with exiled Cuban heavyweight Juan Carlos Gomez fighting in the main event. Now we hear he’s signed for Universum and is claiming he was being intimidated by Turks in Frankfurt, and Arena owe him €1.5 million. What’s the whole story?

Malte: Fact is that we had one more option on another fight with Juan, however, we didn’t take it, because we were convinced he doesn’t have what it takes to be a World Champion. If we are honest, his last few fights were anything but persuasive, he is not the fighter he was. Now he is just a mercenary who wants to take a few more fights to earn some money. We have led him to the world championship against Vitali Klitschko, to the biggest fight of his career. He should have quit straight after the fight. Unfortunately, Juan cannot handle money and is broke again, so he boxes on. His claims, about us still owing him money and being threatened, are simply lies which he told to make a good story and focus attention on him. He has lied, and the Hamburg district court has ascertained it, so Juan may not claim these things any more. A lawsuit for libel and defamation of character will follow. The chapter has turned for us.

FF: Apart from the great news that you are working with Felix Sturm , do you have any big announcements coming?

Malte: We have used the summer break to position ourselves strategically. Internationally we are doing very well with Gamboa, Solis and Selcuk Aydin already. In Germany we are increasing our efforts to look for the new generation. The German market needs homegrown boxers who have charm and charisma. Unfortunately, they don’t grow on the trees, but I believe we are on our way to building big things for the future.

FF: What about Herbie Hide. How does his future map out?

Malte: Herbie belongs – like Juan – to the old guard. We gave him one more chance. I offered him a World championship fight but he did not want it. At the moment Herbie is in England with his family. Actually we don’t even have contact with him right now, and I honestly don’t believe we’ll see him back here in Germany again.

FF: Have you any news about Odlanier Solis? When will we see him back in action? Odlanier surely now needs strong opponents to show the rest of the world that he is the next big thing at heavyweight? A few days ago Povetkin challenged Wladimir Klitschko to fight on September 11th. Povetkin’s coach Teddy Atlas then told us that his charge needs more time before a fight with Klitschko. For me the situation is clear. Put Solis and Povetkin together in the same ring. Can you make this fight?

Malte: For a long time Solis has had the problem that none of the top boxers will fight him. We were in negotiations with Vitaly before he chose Sosnowski as an opponent. The reason for that choice was apparently to bring Polish fans into the arena, and Sosnowski was also the easier fight. We had talks with Ray Austin, but then he was out of the rankings for a time. We had talks with Valuev about an elimination fight, but Valuev has no interest in fighting Solis. Austin is back in the game, but he has no interest now either.

It looks like Solis will next fight towards the end of September. The Klitschko’s or David Haye will not voluntarily defend their titles against him because he is too dangerous, so we must get Solis to number one in the rankings. That’s our aim. One more point is, Solis would appeal to the US market. In the USA nobody has much interest in the Klitschko’s. I have some good boxers in my head, Povetkin is one of them, but they need more exciting fighters. We will see.

FF: What about the top US boxers like Eddie Chambers or Chris Arreola, who recently returned with a win on ESPN’s Friday Fight Nights? Both are good men that can’t afford to lose their next fight or say no to a big opportunity, as they’ve both had their chances and didn’t take them.

Malte: Sure these guys both have big names and we would welcome them as opponents. Also don’t let us forget Tomasz Adamek, who is a big name too, especially with HBO. Basically Solis hides from nobody and is not afraid to fight anyone. He is ready to fight against the best.

FF: Is a fight possible this year between Selcuk Adyin and Andre Berto, or must we wait until 2011?

Malte: As far as the WBC goes, everything is ready. We have been given a negotiation period until September 17, and we must then make the fight within the next 90 days. In the meantime Berto’s promoter Lou DiBella has told us that HBO have no interest in a fight between Selcuk and his charge. Our answer was clear. If HBO have no interest, we make the fight in the Turkey. We don’t really think Lou DiBella had any interest in this fight. A fight is absolutely possible this year in Turkey and we will pay Berto well so he wont need to worry about no HBO.

FF: That’s it for now but more interviews with you will follow I’m sure. Have you any message for the readers of Fight Franchise?

Malte: In name of Arena I thank FF for the interest and I hope we can inspire you with big fights in the Future!

*Malte Muller-Michaelis is Arena Box-Promotion’s chief press officer

1. Arena’s Malte Müller-Michaelis speaks on the Kretschmann controversy