Top Rank president Todd DuBouef has recently spread the word that he would love to match Cuban phenomenon Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0, 16 kos) with hard-hitting WBA lightweight champion Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (29-0-1, 21 kos) sooner or later.

“I have seen some tapes of Rios and all I can say is that Gamboa is ready for him anytime, anyplace”, says promoter Ahmet Oner. “Rios is an aggressive guy but I see nothing in his game to really shock Gamboa. It should be a good fight though so I say: Let’s get it on!”

In September Gamboa beat former world champion Daniel Ponce de Leon in a one-sided affair at 127 lbs. There were rumours about the Cuban 2004 Olympic gold medalist taking an interim bout at 130 lbs. before moving up to 135 lbs. for a possible showdown with Rios who is scheduled to defend his WBA title against John Murray on December 3rd in New York.

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Selcuk Aydin

Welterweight KO-artist Selcuk Aydin is currently training in Miami to prepare for his great goal of dethroning WBC champion Andre Berto. The World Boxing Council (WBC) had confirmed on its 48th world convention in Cancun that Berto has to face silver titlist Aydin next after making his easy defense against Freddy Hernandez on November 27th in Las Vegas.

“I have waited for this chance for a long time”, Aydin told Anson Wainwright (15rounds.com) in an interview last week. “I blame Berto for making me wait for this fight for one and a half years. He did all he could to avoid me and I will make him pay for that once we meet in the ring. I heard that the WBC will call for purse bid shortly and my promoter Ahmet Öner told me that the fight will take place before March 31st. I will fight him anywhere anytime. And I will strip the belt from him.”

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Oloukun (left) hit too hard for Airich (right)

Last-minute replacement Gbenga  “Bang Bang” Oloukun stopped German heavyweight contender Konstantin Airich in three rounds in front of 1000 fans at the Vogelsanghalle in Stralsund, Germany on Friday night.

The Nigerian who stepped in on only two days notice for unbeaten Turk Yakup Saglam connected with the harder punches from the opening bell on. In the third “Bang Bang“ landed a powerful uppercut which sent Airich to the canvas immediately after 47 seconds in the third.

The German beat the count but was on shaky legs forcing his corner to throw in the towel. “I am so disappointed”, stated Airich after the fight. “I just didn’t see that shot coming. I know that I can beat Bang Bang. I hope he gives me a re-match so I can prove that.”  ”I wouldn’t have accepted the fight on short notice if I didn’t believe in my chance”, said  Oloukun. “I know Konstantin, I knew his weaknesses and I knew about my own strengths. So I just hammered him down. Bang Bang!”

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Ahmet Öner (ARENA), Don King (DKP) and Tom Loeffler (K2) reach agreement regarding heavyweight division

Winner of Solis vs. Austin (Dec 17) to face WBC champion Vitali Klitschko within 100 days

Jose Sulaiman says even his friends don't understand him

The 48th WBC Convention in Cancun (Mexico) saw a very emotional meeting on Wednesday when mandatory title defenses and final elimination bouts were on the agenda. The controversy started when Tom Loeffler (K2 Promotions) brought in a request on behalf of heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. Klitschko asked for a voluntary title defense in March 2011 (against Tomasz Adamek at New York’s Madison Square Garden celebrating the 40th anniversary of Ali vs. Frazier I) before facing his next mandatory challenger which will be determined in a final elimination bout between Odlanier Solis and Ray Austin on December 17th in Miami.

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Odlanier Solis (left) with promoter Ahmet Öner

Heavyweight sensation Odlanier Solis returns to Germany in December. The three-time world amateur champion and 2004 Olympic gold medallist (currently rated #2 by the WBC) is on his way to become the mandatory challenger for WBC champion Vitali Klitschko.

After defecting from the Cuban national team (along with unified featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa) in December 2006, Solis gave his pro-debut in Hamburg, Germany, in April 2007 under the banner of Ahmet Oener’s ARENA Box-Promotion. ”La Sombra’ had his first 12 pro-fights in Germany winning the WBC Latino and WBC International Championship. In October 2008 he moved to Miami and had his last four fights in the United States stopping Kevin Burnett, Dominique Alexander, Monte Barrett and Carl Davis Drummond.

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Yuriorkis Gamboa (right) with promoter Ahmet Oner and Orlando Salido (left) Photo: Rick Peneda

When WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa steps into the ring against IBF champ Orlando Salido for his first title unification this Saturday (Sept. 11th, featured on HBO Boxing After Dark) at The Palms in Las Vegas, ‘El Ciclon’ knows exactly who to thank for the way his career has taken so far.

“I have a fantastic team behind me”, said Gamboa in Vegas. “With my father Carlos who brought me to boxing and has always been a role model, my trainer Ismael Salas who I have known for many, many years, my promoter Ahmet Öner and my manager Tony Gonzalez who led me from my pro-debut to Las Vegas on the fast lane and the team of Top Rank who is doing a great job in putting together these wonderful shows I have the best team in my corner that a fighter can possibly have. But I also know that I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I wouldn’t work as hard as possible for my success.”

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Sturm (right) and Lorenzo at today's press conference

WBA Super Champion Felix Sturm and Giovanni Lorenzo were face to face for the first time at today’s press conference for their middleweight title fight this Saturday (Sept. 4) in Cologne, Germany.

“There’s no doubt about me winning the fight and becoming champion of the world”, said Lorenzo who showed up in a jersey of local soccer team Borussia Mönchengladbach; Gladbach had won a clash with local rivals Bayer Leverkusen with 6-3 on Sunday afternoon. “The team of Gladbach inspired me. They were the underdogs, they played in front of Leverkusen’s home crowd and they scored a very convincing and impressing win. That’s exactly what I will do next Saturday. Gladbach scored 6 goals – I will score 6 knockdowns. When I heard that Sturm is from Leverkusen like yesterday’s losers things were very clear to me: I will be the new champion.”

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WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa

- WBA featherweight champion getting ready for Sept. 11 title unification with IBF champ Salido at The Palms -

On September 11th Cuban featherweight phenomenon Yuriorkis Gamboa will enter the ring for his first championship unification bout when the WBA titlist faces IBF champ Orlando Salido at The Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas. The show will be promoted by Top Rank in association with ARENA Sports-Promotion and broadcasted live on HBO Boxing After Dark.

“This will be Gamboa’s toughest test so far”, says promoter Ahmet Öner. “We have matched him against strong opposition from his very first pro-fight on but a title unification is always special. Salido isn’t wearing the championship belt for nothing. Also the pressure on Gamboa is increasing now that he is the main event fighter in Vegas and on HBO. But I am convinced that he will prove once more that he is one of the best fighters and most exciting rising stars in the sport today.”

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The WBC has officially ordered Lou DiBella and ARENA-CEO Ahmet Öner to start free negotiations for the welterweight world championship between Andre Berto and Selcuk Aydin. Berto won the title in June 2008 by knocking out Miguel Angel Rodriguez; Selcuk Aydin has captured the WBC Silver Championship by outscoring Ionut “Jo-Jo Dan” Ion in Istanbul. Both fighters are unbeaten. Berto has won all of his 26 pro-fights (20 kos), Selcuk Aydin scored 20 wins in as many fights (including 15 kos).

“Andre Berto is one of the biggest names in US boxing today”, said Ahmet Öner. “He is one of the faces of HBO. This is the chance Selcuk has been waiting and fighting for. I’m sure it will be a hell of a fight.”

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Gomez (Left) with Arena C.E.O Ahmet Oner in friendlier times

When Ahmet Öner heard that Juan Carlos Gomez decided to leave ARENA to go back to his “old” promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl (Universum) he couldn’t surpress a smile: “My first thoughts were: Well, that’s a match made in heaven – a formerly great promoter who lost all his TV deals and fired his whole staff to avoid bankrupcy teams up with a formerly great fighter whose biggest success was getting beat up by Vitali Klitschko and who blew about 2 mio. Euros in the last three years alone. The best thing about it is that Gomez and Universum have been suing each other for the last five years. But all of a sudden they’re best friends again just because they both decided that they hate the Turkish kid. Well done, guys. I was considering sending both of them my congratulations to this wonderful deal and wishing them all the best for their joint venture of insignificance – but then I heard some of the stuff Gomez is saying about me and I felt I have to respond to that at least.”

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Selcuk 'Mini Tyson' Aydin

“Mini-Tyson” beats “Jo-Jo Dan” in dramatic battle

After twelve very close and dramatic rounds Selcuk Aydin beat Ionut “Jo-Jo Dan” Ion by split decision Saturday night in front of 10,000 frenetic fans at Abdi Ipekci Spor Salonu to win the vacant WBC Silver Championship.

Aydin started strong flooring his opponent with a right hook to the head in the first round. But “Jo-Jo Dan” not only recovered fast but started to take control in round two to four. Throughout the fight the Canada based Romanian was the more active man in the ring while Selcuk Aydin landed the harder shots whenever he came close enough to hurt Ion. In the end Aydin’s supreme defensive skills and his higher accuracy convinced two of three judges to score the bout 114:113 in favour of the local hero; one judge had it 116:111 for Ion.

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Odlanier Solis (left) with promoter Ahmet Öner

“Stop wasting your time fighting bums – Come and fight me!”

The WBC heavyweight championship between Vitali Klitschko and Albert Sosnowski turned out exactly as all experts and fans had expected. The challenger from Poland didn’t stand a chance against the more powerful half of the dominating force in the heavyweight division. The older Klitschko brother once more wore down a helpless opponent with his unorthodox style and his powerful left hand using the right only to finish off his opponent in the tenth round.

Most of the 40,000 fans in the not sold-out football stadium in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, were not amused with Vitali’s slow and boring performance against another challenger who wasn’t worth his money. And even Klitschko’s strong German TV partner RTL cannot be happy with “only” 7 million viewers and the lowest rating since RTL teamed up with the Klitschko Management Group four years ago to exclusively present the fights of both Vitali and Wladimir.

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Juan Carlos Gomez

Eurosport to broadcast the 7th annual “Hattersheim Havoc” live

On June 4th ‘The Black Panther’ Juan Carlos Gomez (46-2, 36 kos) will return to action against Frankfurt based Turk Oezcan Cetinkaya (17-6-1, 11 kos) in Hattersheim (near Frankfurt), Germany. The former WBC cruiserweight champion and heavyweight championship contender (in March 2009 vs. Vitali Klitschko) will headline the 7th annual “Hattersheim Havoc” at Karl-Eckel-Halle. In the co-feature hard-hitting German prospect Konstantin Airich (14-2-2, 11 kos) takes on Alexander Kahl (15-5-1, 13 kos). The fights will be broadcasted live on Eurosport (starting at 9.00pm local time).

Ten days before stepping into the ring Gomez lashes out against the heavyweight scene at his training camp in Hamburg.

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Last week Nirmal Lorick, manager and trainer of WBC #2 rated welterweight Luis Collazo has publicly pulled out of the scheduled June 5th WBC Silver Championship against hard-hitting Selcuk Aydin. Lorick said that his fighter was not able to make the weight after a long lay-off and in addition to that had no interest in traveling to Turkey for a world title fight for a purse of US$ 105,000.-

ARENA had won the purse bid for Aydin vs. Collazo on March 5th at the WBC headquarters in Mexico and announced that the fight will take place on June 5th at Abdi Ipekci Spor Salonu in Istanbul, Turkey. After Collazo pulled out promoter Ahmet Öner said the championship fight on June 5th will still go ahead.

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Odlanier Solis

ARENA’s Cuban heavyweight sensation Odlanier Solis advances to the no. 1 spot in the new WBC rankings. Originally ‘La Sombra’ was scheduled to fight Ray Austin in a final elimination bout but Austin declared to be unavailable due to legal problems. Therefore Solis took Austin’s spot in the rankings.

“This is a great honour for Odlanier and ARENA”, stated promoter Ahmet Öner. “To become the no. 1 contender with only 16 pro-fights means something. Odlanier has been an amateur standout and also proved his extraorinary qualities since turning pro in 2007. I am convinced that he is the only serious threat to the Klitschko brothers today and I hope that he will get the chance to prove me right very soon.”

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