By Per Ake Persson

Former EBU middleweight champion and world title challenger Jean Claude Bouttier has passed away at the age of 74 reports l´Equipe. Bouttier was probably the best in what was a great era for French boxing and challenged the great Carlos Monzon in 1972 and again 1973 but lost both fights.

He retired in 1974 with a record of 64-7-1. He beat the likes of Emile Griffith, Bunny Sterling, Juarez De Lima (the third time they fought - he lost the first two) and Stan Hayward. Bouttier retired in 1974 but remained in boxing as commentator for Canal+ and also did some acting..

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WBC female 130 lb champ Eva Wahlstrom (22-1-1) retained the title last night in Las Vegas with a split draw against Ronica Jeffrey (17-1-1. Next up could be another fight in the United States for Eva and this time against Mikaela Mayer (11-0) - a fight that Top Rank reportedly is eager to make.

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Paul Thorn, with his band, will tour Europe in September and have gigs lined up in Italy, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Thorn was a decent middleweight during the 80´s and fought Roberto Duran in 1988 but came up short. He´s a much better musician than boxer though and his music is deeply rooted in the American south.

Polish super middleweight Robert Parzeczewski (23-1) gets a tough test when he takes on Patrick Mendy (18-14-3) October 4 in Czestochowa. Mendy´s record since 2015 reads 2-6-2 but each and every fight has been on the road in Europe with some close and disputed decisions going against him.

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Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin left Sweden on August 2 for New York and reported yesterday (Aug 3) that while there were ongoing intense negotiations no contracts had been signed for the fight against Tyson Fury.

In the latest WBA ratings Wallin is # 4 at heavyweight. In the last ratings Wallin was # 5 and since then Dillian Whyte, formerly # 3, has left as he is now a WBC interim champ (or was). Wallin´s rise in the WBA ratings began in 2017 when he won the WBA Continental title and since then he´s climbed steadily despite only having three fights in that time.