On June 6th, European light heavyweight champion Jürgen Brähmer (32-2, 26 KOs) plans to showcase his skills against mandatory challenger Antonio Brancalion (32-6-2, 8 KOs) as he gears up for another world title shot. The bout will be seen by a huge live TV audience on ZDF as well as a packed house in Oberhausen’s König Pilsener Arena. At today’s press conference in Hamburg, Brähmer said “Brancalion is very difficult to box, but I’ll just adjust to him. I just started this week with sparring. I’m glad to be back in the ring so quickly after my fight in March. This rhythm works very well for me, it’s what I need to move ahead.”

The card also features an excellent battle between world rated heavyweight stablemates as WBA #6 Denis Boytsov (24-0, 19 KOs) puts his undefeated record on the line against WBA #2 rated Taras Bidenko (26-2, 12 KOs). Both contenders had interesting comments.

“We know each other very well,” said Boytsov, “but we must disconnect our professional and private lives for this fight. Taras is the number two in the WBA rankings, I’m number six. We both want to continue to the top. This is a very important fight for us both.”

Trainer Fritz Sdunek, who has worked with Boystov for more than four years, added “This will be a high tempo duel that will not be easy for either fighter. Of course, it’s a bout which one does reluctantly, but this is simply our job.”

“Naturally this fight fight is a difficult situation for me,” commented Bidenko. “Normally we’re friends and I wasn’t so happy to accept this fight. But since I have now, I intend to continue to move up in the rankings.”

His trainer Valentin Silaghi said, “We training in various gyms so we don’t show our cards. It is a funny feeling as I’ve known Fritz for 20 years. Now we are in the opposite corners, but as he said, we must do our jobs and we will.”

Also seeing action will be unbeaten heavyweight Manuel Charr (11-0, 5 KOs) against an opponent to be named. Additional fights will be announced in the coming days.