Belgian bridgerweight and former WBA cruiserweight champion Ryad Merhy (31-1) reports on Facebook that he will fight former IBO cruiserweight ruler Kevin Lerena (28-2) in a WBC eliminator in Johannesburg on March 18.

Lerena was last seen fighting Daniel Dubois for the WBA "regular" heavyweight title and was stopped in the third but had the champ down three times in the first round.

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The Enock Poulsen vs Franck Petitjean fight for Poulsen's EBU super lightweight title that was set for February 4 in Creteil (France) is postponed again (and again and again one must add).

Promoter Yohan Zaoui of Y12 has informed the EBU that the fight will go ahead March 18 or 24 with Creteil still as the site. Poulsen's chief coach and sparring partner Anthony Yigit left Denmark for Stockholm not long after hearing the news but might be back in the near future.

The problem appears to be that Poulsen vs Petitjean II in itself isn't strong enough to headline a show in France. Y12 had lined up new French star Milan Prat to defend the EBU super welterweight title against German Abass Baraou. However then Baraou was injured and Y12 tried to get Prat in a voluntary defense of the title but that didn't materialize.

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Germany's Universum Box Promotion have French heavyweight Mourad Aliev (6-0) defending the WBC International Silver title against Ali Kiydin (16-1 but don't let the record fool you) on top of the bill in their show in Ludwigshafen (Germany) February 4 and many boxing fans are most likely happy that hear that this event will not feature any YouTube or influencers "fighting". 

Also on the bill are light heavyweight James Kraft (21-1-1) and heavyweight Jose Larduet (8-0).

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Cristobal Lorente (15-0-1) and veteran Andoni Gago (26-5-4) meet for the vacant EU featherweight title in an all-Spanish matchup on March 11 in Barcelona.