By Maria Bezchastnaya

The bout between the former interim WBA welterweight champion Yuri Nuzhnenko and Italian Gianluca Branco for the EBU title won’t take place on February 19 as scheduled. Nuzhnenko explained in the interview to turnir.com.ua that the negotiations between his promotional company K2 East Promotions with the team of the Italian boxer fell through.

“I definitely will not step into the ring on February 19”, - says the Ukrainian. – “My bout for the European welterweight belt is postponed for the uncertain term. As my promoter K2 East Promotions explained, my potential opponent Gianluca Branco now has serious financial difficulties. That’s why the negotiations with his team reached a dead end. Of course it’s very frustrating. I’ve been preparing for the title bout for 2 months – I’ve been training really hard, already had sparring sessions and after all that I was informed that the bout was cancelled."