By Per Ake Persson

Brondby, Denmark - Patrick Nielsen won the Bad Blood fight also known as the Battle of Copenhagen when he stopped Rudy Markussen in the third of an ugly, foul-filled fight with more holding, wrestling and pushing than clean punches.

Markussen entered the ring to cheers of the crowd while Nielsen was met with boos. Markussen seemed full of fight and confidence as the fight began but - as always - the longer the fight went it faded out. Nielsen did what he always does: punch and hold with Markussen looking stiff and slow. Still, Markussen´s power appeared to be there and Patrick was careful not to get caught. Referee Jan Christensen had his hands full keeping the two apart.

In the third it was obvious that Nielsen was taking over and he caught Rudy with a southpaw left, Markussen stumbled a bit and was then partly pushed to the floor where he was counted over. The referee asked Markussen if he was okay and it appeared as if The hard hitter said no and shook his head and it was over at 1.24.

Markussen announced his retirement from the ring. If he had had a heart to match his punch his career would have been a lot different.

Cruiserweight Micki Nielsen (20-0) knocked out 43-year old Bulgarian Konstantin Semerdiev (33-17-2) with a short southpaw right hook 2.59 into the third. Moments before Semerdiev had  scored with a fine right uppercut and Nielsen appeared to have problems to open up his opponent. Semerdiev fell on his back, out of this world and the referee dispensed with the count. It was scheduled for eight.

Featherweight Dennis Ceylan (17-0-1) knocked out faded veteran Walter Estrada (46-19-1) at 2.43 of the second. Estrada was first hurt by a right and fell into the ropes and looked totally gone as he fell to the floor. There was a no count and moments later Estrada walked onto a left hook and went down. He got up again but was correctly counted out. Estrada appeared to have no punch resistance and looked every bit like a fighter who is ready to do something else. At the same time Ceylan is closing on the best in Europe and is improving with every fight.

It was a poor matchup to begin with and the fight itself was rather boring with Norwegian super middle Tim-Robin Lihaug (15-1) winning a unanimous decision after eight over Hungarian Josezf Racz (5-5). It was scored 80-72, 79-73 and 78-74 but it was closer than that as Lihaug,walked into some stiff counters. Lihaug seemed to be out of ideas on what to do against Racz, who boxed okay but appeared to be nothing special. As it was Tim-Robin kept coming but was seldom effective.

Norwegian cruiserweight Kai Robin Havnaa, 5-0, took out Pole Lukasz Zygmunt, 1-4, at 2.59 of the first of a scheduled four rounder. Zygmunt appeared to be doing well in surviving against a strong, agressive opponent but was caught by a right, and then another and went down. Zygmunt was up at "9,5" but looked groggy and it was stopped and ruled as a knockout.

There are now two fights more before the main event with three hours to go.

Middleweight Abdul Khattab, now 13-1, outscored Colombian journeyman Francsico Cordero, who once fought for the WBA super featherweight title, over eight one-sided rounds. Khattab showed nice moves and flashy punches but could never hurt his opponent. Cordero, quite overweight, covered up well and came forward a bit in the last three rounds but appeared to happy with lasting the distance without getting hurt. The no knockdown affair was scored 80-72 twice 80-70. Cordero is now 31-5.

Middleweight Landry Kore moved to 5-0 with a first round knockout over Bulgarian Valentin Stoychev (7-21-3). Kore worked the body of his opponent and hurt him with left hooks. Stoychev bent over and took the count sitting on the second rope. The time was 1.46. It was scheduled for four.

In the second fight of the evening, female featherweight Dina Thorslund (5-0) outscored Serbian Jasmina Nadj (5-11-2) over six two minute rounds. Thorslund had the fight under control from the first bell until the last while Nadj was content to spoil, hold and smother her aggressive opponent. Nadj had a point deducted in the fifth for holding and at the end it was scored 60-53 twice and 60-52.

British light heavyweight Deion Jumah (now 7-0) opened Sauerland Promotion´s show at the Brondbyhall with a with a six round unanimous decision over Ukrainan Vasyl Kondor (18-16-1). Jumah, a southpaw, dominated the fight and stunned Kondor twice in the fifth with his left. Kondor was tough though and gave Jumah a fine workout in front of a few hundred early bird fans. It was scored 60-54 on all cards.