It was thought McDermott had injured himself sparring (Photo: Express & Star)

On this day five weeks ago Darren McDermott opened up to Boxing News Online about his second chance at a British title being the fight of his life – today he feels lucky just to have his life.

In that time-frame, a perfectly fit boxer went from being a British super middleweight title contender to a seriously ill man undergoing the sort of brain surgery only one in five wake up from.

How could this happen, he and all of us asked when the news finally came to light?

Initially it was thought that an innocuous and accidental bang on the head sparring in Wales with Nathan Cleverly, as both had big title fights coming up, had done all of the damage.

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Gamboa (left) and Salido at yesterday's weigh in

Fightfranchise.com caught up with WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa with only hours to go before his big unification fight with Orlando Salido in Vegas, and the champ sounded positive about his chances.

FF: First of all how are you so close to the fight, and are you ready to rumble?
Gamboa: I feel great, thank you. My preparation was close to perfect and I am ready to beat my opponent and show the world what I got.

FF: Your match against Orlando Salido is a Unification bout. Is this your biggest fight as a pro?
Gamboa: No doubt about that. I am a world champion, Salido is a world champion. We both have a lot to lose and a lot to win at the same time. I am used to the fact that my fights get more and more important throughout my career. Of course, this is the most important one so far. And I hope for even bigger challenges and bigger fights after I win this one.

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We caught up with Giovanni Lorenzo at yesterday’s weigh-in to get his final thoughts ahead of his World title challenge against WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm in Cologne, Germany.

FF: How are you and how will you spend your time now until the fight?

GL: I’m ready to eat! I’m replaying the fight in my mind, like I have a million times since I took the fight

FF: What is your plan, and what do you think of your opponent Felix Sturm?

GL: The worst mistake they have made is to treat me as an ‘opponent’. They are going to be surprised. Very surprised. I’ll break Sturm’s big nose. It’s a big target!

FF: Most people do see you as an opponent though, although you had a close fight with (IBF Champion) Sebastian Sylvester last year here in Germany. How do you see it?

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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?

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WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm  33-2-1 (14) has been out of the ring for over a year following an acrimonious split between him and his promoters Universum, but now all those issues seem to have been resolved and Sturm returns on September 4th with a bout against Giovanni Lorenzo in Cologne, Germany. In the build-up Felix kindly took some time out to chat with Fightfranchise.com about his upcoming fight and what the future holds.

FF: Hello Felix. After 14 long months the boxing world finally has the WBA middleweight champ back. You next fight on September 4th against Giovanni Lorenzo, who lost very closely to Sebastian Sylvester for the IBF belt last year. You beat Sylvester handily two years ago, so is this guy a warm up opponent for you to see where you stand ?

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Malte Müller-Michaelis

Press chief Malte Müller-Michaelis of Arena Box-Promotion, one of Germany’s premier promotional outfits, spoke to FightFranchise moments after Arena star Steffen Kretschmann controversially quit in the ninth round of his rematch with Russian heavyweight Denis Bakhtov.

German hope Kretschmann 14-2 (13), having been blown away in one round by Bakhtov two fights ago, was looking to restore his pride but after a tough fight, and a knockdown in the ninth round, he decided to call the fight off himself, apparently no longer willing to take punches. Arena C.E.O Ahmet Öner was on the ring apron pleading with his charge to continue, but Kretschmann point-blank refused, and was consequently declared a loser by ninth round TKO.

FF: Hello Malte thanks for your time, first congratulations on this great event last weekend, with the exception of the Steffen Kretschmann controversy of course.

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Gomez (left) during his three-round victory over Alexey Mazikin

Heavyweight contender Juan Carlos Gomez returned to the ring last Saturday for the very first time since his devastating loss to Vitali Klitschko almost exactly one year ago and successfully stopped decent Alexey Mazikin in an impressive three rounds. At 37, time is of the essence for the Cuban ‘Black Panther’, but his confidence in himself is enough to convince anyone.

1.) Successful comeback from the Black Panther. Your statement please.
“The Black Panther is back! I wanted to show that I am not too old to play with the big boys and I think I delivered. This was only the first step back to the top. It’s Showtime again!”

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FF's Mehmet Pierre 'Memzero' Storsberg (left) with Yuriorkis Gamboa

WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa 18-0 (15) succesfully defended his title on Saturday in Hamburg, Germany with a tenth round stoppage of Jonathan Victor Barros in a tough, exciting bout. After the fight FightFranchise’s Mehmet Pierre Storsberg caught up with Gamboa to ask him a few questions.

1.) Congratulations on your victory tonight. Please a little statement on this.
“I think I fought a good fight against a strong opponent. I am happy with my win. It was a great feeling to fight in Hamburg again where so many people still remember me.”

2.) After a short pause of only 2 monthssince  your last fight against Mtagwa, now comes the well-deserved holiday. How long will it be?
“I heard that my next fight is set for July but I leave that part to my promoter Ahmet Öner. I could fight every other week if I was asked to.”

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FF's Mehmet Pierre 'Memzero' Storsberg (left) with Mahir Oral

Following on from his chat with middleweight contender Mahir Oral 28-2-2 (11), FightFranchise’s Mehmet Pierre ‘Memzero’ Storsberg caught up with Mahir after his impressive tenth round WBA International title victory over Colombian Juan Camilo Novo last Saturday on the big Arena card in Hamburg, Germany to hear his reaction on the win and his options and goals in the future.

Fight three, victory three after the Abraham loss. They say all good things come in threes. Congratulations, great fight and now you are the WBA International champ. What’s next for Mahir Oral?
Mahir: Well the title and victory today was very important for me, to take a good place in the WBA rankings. Maybe I’m now in the top 10 or top 5, and we all know that Felix Sturm is the WBA champ.

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