By Per-Ake Persson and Alexey Sukachev

According to the European Boxing Union’s general secretary Enza Jacoponi, a purse bid for a clash for a vacant EBU cruiserweight title between Russia’s Rakhim Chakhkiev (19-1, 14 KOs) and former WBC champion Giacobbe Fragomeni (32-4-2, 13 KOs) of Italy is now called off for good, as both parties agreed to collide on Ocober 24 in Moscow, Russia, under the promotion of “World of Boxing” LLC, led by Russian boxing tycoon Andrey Ryabinskiy.

WBC #1, IBF #5 and WBA #12 Chakhkiev, 31, is best known as the 2008 Beijing heavyweight gold medalist. He is 2-0 with 2 KOs this year with stoppage wins over fringe contenders Juho Haapoja and Santander Silgado. IBF #15 Fragomeni is fourteen years Chakhkiev’s senior but still has something left in the tank. He got his biggest win at 39, outpointing Czech Rudolf Kraj for a vacant green strap. He defended his title once – in a draw against Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in 2009 – before losing it to Hungarian Zsolt Erdei the same year.

Meanwhile, Wlodarczyk is the only same opponent for Chakhkiev and Fragomeni. Both fought him in 2013. The Russian fighter lost his bid with a come-from-behind rally by the Pole, suffering three knockdowns (and delivering one early on) before getting stopped in the eighth in June. It took Wlodarczyk two rounds less to repeat this trick on Fragomeni in December 2013. Interestingly, it was the third fight before two of them. In their second meeting, Wlodarczyk stopped the Italian in eight to seize a vacant WBC strap, which he still holds on four years later, in May 2014.

The chain of peculiarities doesn’t end here. Wlodarczyk will also fight in Moscow, on Sep. 27, against another Russian cruiserweight star, promoted by Ryabinskiy – Grigory Drozd. Drozd was the EBU champion in 2013/2014 before vacating his crown for a chance to fight the Polish champion and avenge Chakhkiev’s previous defeat.