Due to Alex Leapai's, pictured, major victory over the previously unbeaten Denis Boytsov late in 2013 he is now, as many will know, the mandatory WBO challenger to Wladimir Klitschko, the WBO, IBF and WBA "super" champion. The bout, which is currently being arranged as we speak is set to take place in the coming months though the surprising thing is that 2 countries are being spoken about as the likely host.
The obvious one is Germany. the country where the Klitschko brothers have been based for much of their career and where Wladimir has a massive fan based. Whilst the Americans may not be fans of "Dr Steelhammer" on the whole the German market really cannot get enough of him with TV coverage and huge stadiums giving him the attention that "the Heavyweight champion" rightfully deserves.
The second option that has appeared is Australia. Although Leapai is based in Australia himself the country is a bit of a shock to act as a Heavyweight title fight venue with the most famous Heavyweight title fight in Australia's history coming way back in the 1900's when Jack Johnson beat Tommy Burns for the title and became the first African American champion in the division's history.
Whilst we do like the idea of expanding the scope of boxing, we would hope that a fight in Australia would have a deep under-card. Thankfully there are numerous good prospects down under that could be put on the card, such as Joseph Parker, Cameron Hammond and Jeff Horn though whether or not German TV would be happy would be the big question. The time zone issue may force the bout to be in Germany unless some sort of a compromise could be found, for example the card starting earlier than usual for an Australian card.
The obvious one is Germany. the country where the Klitschko brothers have been based for much of their career and where Wladimir has a massive fan based. Whilst the Americans may not be fans of "Dr Steelhammer" on the whole the German market really cannot get enough of him with TV coverage and huge stadiums giving him the attention that "the Heavyweight champion" rightfully deserves.
The second option that has appeared is Australia. Although Leapai is based in Australia himself the country is a bit of a shock to act as a Heavyweight title fight venue with the most famous Heavyweight title fight in Australia's history coming way back in the 1900's when Jack Johnson beat Tommy Burns for the title and became the first African American champion in the division's history.
Whilst we do like the idea of expanding the scope of boxing, we would hope that a fight in Australia would have a deep under-card. Thankfully there are numerous good prospects down under that could be put on the card, such as Joseph Parker, Cameron Hammond and Jeff Horn though whether or not German TV would be happy would be the big question. The time zone issue may force the bout to be in Germany unless some sort of a compromise could be found, for example the card starting earlier than usual for an Australian card.