Damir Beljo vs. Maik Kurzweil II & Christian Lewandowski vs. Paul Butlin RBR

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Beljo, a 6′ 2½″ but quick and somewhat agile Yugoslav with a current record of 21-0 (17), is making his second defense of the WBO European cruiser title which he captured exactly one year ago today by defeating this same opponent via KO1. He is currently ranked 5th in line for a crack at Krzysztof Głowacki by the WBO, behind Oleksandr Usyk, Noel Gevor, Marco Huck & Tony Bellew. He is ahead of Steve Cunningham, Mairis Briedis, Iago Kiladze, Youri Kalenga, Yunier Dorticos, Ilunga Makabu, Micki Nielsen, Murat Gassiev, Mirkho Larghetti, and Mateusz Masternak.

 

I sense there may be some corruption at play here, on Kurzweil's behalf.

There is absolutely no justification for a rematch between this pair. Beljo rather straightforwardly proved himself the better man on this date in 2015, dropping the German twice on body shots (the second one a piercing left upper-hook on the lung which completely sapped Kurzweil's breath) and making him quit after just ninety seconds. Kurzweil has since knocked out a 1-4 Portuguese tomato can in a tuneup, which shouldn't be enough to put him in contention again (even for the relatively minor WBO Euro belt).

He must have some political connections in the sport, to have Beljo forced to return to Germany to defend his title after doing nothing to establish his worthiness of sharing a ring with him last time. :conf

Here's their first encounter:

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No real controversy or room to argue for a rematch, there.

 

That wasn't even the first time Kurzweil lost via KO1, either - it was his third suffered in his career so far - so I can't imagine their argument for a rematch could be claiming the result was a "fluke"..

(and the video clearly shows it wasn't. One body shot, down. Second body shot, quit. Pretty cut & dry...)

 

Christian Lewandwoski is actually headlining the card despite being in an 8-rounder with a fat old journeyman Brit with a losing record. It makes sense, as Lewandoski is the hometown star in Greifswald, and has a crowd-enticingly perfect record of 8-0 with eight stoppages.

Butlin has been around the block and is mentally tough, but make no mistake he was brought here to get wiped out and pad that up to 9-0 (9).

Ironically, both Lewandowski's and Butlin's most recent opponents are squaring off in the other, 3rd-billed co-feature. Franz Rill beat Paul Butlin via UD8 last July (prior to his zero being snatched by Robert Helenius in December), while Marko Kolić lost to Lewandowski via KO1 this January.

 

Huge surprise - Damir Beljo KO1 Maik Kurzweil, again. :yep

Looking forward to Beljo vs. Kurzweil III, on March 6th 2017. :blood

 

This was supposed to have been picked up by EuroSport but they decided to air skiing instead. Boxing continues to get slapped in the face by global media. :verysad

 

Still no results yet reported for Rill vs. Kolić, Lewandowski vs. Butlin, or Timo Schwarzkopf vs. Tomas Urbaneja from the undercard. :conf

 

Beljo is already by far the most successful boxer from war-torn Bosnia & Herzegovina, where he is becoming a major celebrity and using his visibility to campaign for peace & unity - and could well become the first to contend for a world title if he stays the course and outlasts some of the names in front of him by way of attrition or them chasing other major org belts.

The champion, Głowacki, is set to meet #6 Cunningham next month. Barring a unification or an imminent challenge from Usyk (#1 contender), Gevor (WBO Intercontinental champ), Huck (IBO champ) or Bellew (EBU champ), his number could well be called in the coming year.

The high points on his résumé actually came before his WBO Euro title reign, in 2013 and 2014 when he stopped the likes of Marcel Zeller, Alejandro Berrio, and Epi Mendoza as one is supposed to do if any good (though all three are bigger names and probably far more dangerous than Kurzweil). It would be nice to see him tested by a young cruiser to see just how good he actually is, before he makes the leap in class to go after Głowacki.

 

Lewandowski TKO3 Butlin.

Retired super featherweight (and onetime British title challenger) and current promoter Carl Greaves just Tweeted "Paul Butlin puts in a great effort b4 getting stopped in the 3rd against German giant Christian lewandowski who's record is 9/0 all by tko"

 

That would have been an ideal gauge of his abilities. Both are, I suspect, bang-on average with ham-and-egg skill-sets and too little fluidity & versatility on the world class tier, but about evenly poised to excel atop the European heap (Seferi made four defenses of the very title Beljo now holds, before losing it to Głowacki by near-shutout in what also served as Głowacki's passage to Huck, being a world title eliminator as well)

If they fought on even terms as I suspect they would, it would confirm that Beljo is likely to suffer the same fate should he land his payday with Głowacki - losing nearly every round.

Would be fun, though. Beljo and Seferi both like to come forward and throw body shots in bunches (the latter doing so very effectively to break down Tamás Lödi) - and this would be a bit of a grudge match, would it not?

One is ethnic Albanian (born in Macedonia, residing in Switzerland), the other ethnic Croat (born in the former Yugoslavia, now a citizen of B&H) - even given my rather murky understanding of Balkan sociopolitical complexities, I know that is sort of like Dominicans & Haitians, innit? :think