On Saturday, April 24, Universum Box-Promotion and Salita Promotions will co-host the inaugural event of their ambitious new partnership by presenting a mammoth 14-fight night of boxing at the Universum Gym in Hamburg, Germany, and streamed live on BILD +.
In the 12-round main event, former 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, BDB German International and IBO Continental Super Lightweight Champion Artem “The Original” Harutyunyan (9-0, 6 KOs) of Hamburg, Germany via Yerevan, Armenia, will face WBA #9 and former world title challenger Oliver “Trombita” Flores (30-3-2, 19 KOs) from Leon, Nicaragua, for the WBA International Lightweight Championship.
And in the 10-round co-main event, former IBF International Welterweight and EBU European Union Super Lightweight Champion Timo Schwarzkopf (20-4, 12 KOs) from Stuttgart, Germany via Mleqan, Kosovo will face Sochi, Russia via Yerevan, Armenia’s former WBC International Lightweight Champion Vage Sarukhanyan (20-2-2, 4 KOs).
Also appearing on the livestream will be an intriguing eight-round showdown between undefeated light heavyweights, as Essen, Germany’s Rostam Ibrahim (6-0-1, 3 KOs) takes on Stuttgart’s Altin Zogaj (7-0, 5 KOs).
In an eight-round women’s special attraction, undefeated 20-year-old Phannarai “Fai Phannarai” Netisri (7-0, 4 KOs) of Schwabach, Bayern, Germany via Bangkok, Thailand will take on once-beaten 23-year-old Cheyenne “Pepper” Hanson (8-1, 6 KOs) of Augsburg, Bayern, Germany, for the WBC Youth Female Super Bantamweight Championship.
A six-round heavyweight battle is also scheduled for broadcast between southpaw Senad “GachineGun” Gashi (20- 3, 20 KOs) of Marbella, Andalucía, Spain via Pec, Kosovo and undefeated German KO specialist Dominic Vial (6-0, 5 KOs) of Moenchengladbach, Nordrhein-Westfalen.
In a six-round super middleweight bout, former World Boxing Federation World Super Welterweight World Champion Rafael “Karibik Tiger” Bejaran (26-5-1, 12 KOs) of Hamburg, Germany via Esperanza, Dominican Republic will take on Altoetting, Bayern, Germany’s Florian Wildenhof (30-6-1, 11 KOs).
And to open the broadcast, undefeated Cuban lightweight Frank Zaldivar will face an opponent that is TBA in a six-rounder.
“We are very happy to be able to present a very international fight card worldwide on April 24,” said Ismail Özen-Otto, CEO of Universum. “In the main fight we have two elite athletes, Artem Harutyunyan the Olympic bronze winner of the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 against WBA #9 contender Oliver Flores from Nicaragua. The winner of this fight could soon be a world championship challenger.”
“I am excited about working with Universum CEO Ismail Özen- Otto and matchmaker Flavio Oleaga Mirabal and all their world-class fighters,” added Dmitriy Salita, President of Salita Promotions. “On April 24, boxing fans will get a chance to see some of the best international talent on the planet in competitive, match-ups.”
Oleaga Mirabal, who put the card together, says he’s happy about the exposure the Universum fighters will receive from the partnership with Salita. “The fight card is very exciting. We will stream it in Germany with our media partner Bild + and thanks to our US partner Salita Promotions, we will also broadcast it internationally with other media partners,” he said. “This is a great start to our collaboration.”
A further seven fights will be held on the untelevised portion of the undercard, featuring several of Germany’s next wave of boxing talent in career-building challenges.
The April 24 broadcast will begin at 7:30 German time (1:30 pm ET in the US).
