For us the highlight bout of the night takes place in Sachsen, Germany on a very interesting card. Here Heavyweight title contender Manuel Charr (24-1, 14) will be fighting Russian Denis Bakhtov (36-8, 24) in what is not only an interesting bout in terms of the men involved but also the fact that 4 WBC affiliated titles are up for grabs. The belts, whilst pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things are the WBC Baltic, Mediterranean, International Silver and the CIS and Slovenian Boxing Bureau title. Not a bad haul at all for the winner.
On the same card as the Charr/Bakhtov contest there will be a second Heavyweight contest as the promising Tom Schwarz (1-0, 1) goes up against Ukraine born Lithuanian Pavlo Nechyporenko (2-8-1, 1) in what looks like a good second contest for Schwarz, at least on paper. Unfortunately Nechyporenko has been stopped inside a round in 2 of his last 3 contests.
Staying in Germany there is also a contest featuring journeyman Werner Kreiskott (13-19-2, 8) though his opponent has yet to be named, it will however be on a different card to the other two bouts in Germany.
One of the most interesting Heavyweight bouts of the night takes place in France as once beaten Frenchman Johann Duhaupas (29-1, 18) fights the unbeaten Finn Jarno Rosberg (14-0-0-1, 4) in a battle for the vacant EBU-EU Heavyweight title. Whilst Rosberg is coming into this bout after more than a year out of the ring he could give Duhaupas some trouble, though we do think that the Frenchman will come out on top.
Charr isn't the only contender in action as Poland's unbeaten Krzysztof Zimnoch (16-0-1, 11) looks to take a step towards a world title fight as he takes on Polish born Canadian based Art Binkowski (16-3-3, 11). Whilst Binkowski is 38 years old he is unbeaten in Poland
Whilst Charr isn't the only promising contender, it's fair to say Schwarz isn't the only prospect in action as American Gerald Washington (9-0, 6) looks to continue the great start to his career. Fighting in Mexico Washington will battle the hard hitting but very limited Travis Fulton (21-32-1, 20). One way or another, this one is finishing early, and we're putting our money with Washington.
Another Heavyweight prospect who looks to continue his winning run is Russian Magomed Azuev (4-0, 2) who is in Spain taking on Switzerland based Croatian Ivo Andelic (7-1-1, 3). This will be Azuev's fifth successive bout in Spain and whilst his overall quality is unknown this is a step up from his previous opponents.
In the Czech Republic we have two bouts, both at a very low level. One of these will see Michal Mamula (0-0-1) fighting the winless Josef Kuricaj (0-15) whilst the other will see the 32 year old Martin Horak (3-0, 2) fighting the very fragile Martin Stensky (0-27), a man who has been stopped 26 times in 27 contests. It's almost impossible to see the two "career losers" picking up victories here though Kuricaj has proven to be durable so far and may see out the distance with Mamula.
The remaining action all takes place in the US with the most interesting contest being a clash of unbeaten men as former amateur standout Donovan Dennis (6-0-0-1, 5) faces Hugo Arceo (4-0-1, 3). We favour Dennis here though we're not sure if he has the toughness to move in to the world rankings.
In New Jersey we have a double to finish off as Chazz Witherspoon (30-3, 22) fights the hard hitting Derek Bryant (20-7-1, 17) and the hard hitting Danny Kelly (4-0-1, 4) faces Jamal Woods (3-8-1, 3). If Witherspoon can take Bryant's power he should be favoured in his bout and of course Kelly will be favoured over Woods, though admittedly these bouts could see every man forced to answer questions about their chin.