French Boxing Hosts Big Card – The Palais des sports Marcel Cerdan in Hauts-de-Seine, France is hosting an eleven fight boxing event this Saturday, March 12th that sees some of the feature fights already getting attention at the sport books.
The main event features Frenchman Cedric Vitu (43-2) as he defends his EBU Super Welterweight title against Spaniard Ruben Varon (43-8). Vitu spent his career fighting in France, but in June of last year he travelled to Italy and won the vacant belt as an underdog facing Orlando Fiordigiglio, who was 21-0 at the time. Varon is 6 years older than Vitu at 36, and though he has fought names such as Felix Sturm, Mathew Macklin and Sebastian Zbik, he has never broke through and won a bigger fight and this is his first fight in France. Vitu is approaching fifty fights, and though his resume is not one that is covered with big names, his only loss in the last 7 years come at the hands of then undefeated 21-0 Sergey Rebchenko, and one of the judges gave Vitu the fight 115-114 as he lost a narrow split decision in England.
The biggest name on the card is Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, a former WBO Middleweight champion who is returning after a layoff of nine months. When last we saw him, N’Jikam, who sports a fine 31-2 career record, he was taking only the second loss of his career as he faced Canada’s David Lemieux for the vacant IBF Middleweight belt. He is facing journeyman Patrick Mendy (16-9-1) in a bout that sees N’Jikam enter as a huge favorite, and at 32 years old he must still feel he has a few international fights left in the tank. Lemieux parlayed his win over N’Jikam into a big money fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and that type of payday is exactly what N’Jikam is looking for right about now.
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Also on the card is popular Yvan Mendy (33-4-1) who defends his WBC International Lightweight belt against Samir Kasmi. Kasmi is a veteran with a 19-11-1 record who started off his career going 7-8 before experiencing some success. Mendy won the WBC trinket with a win on the road in England over previously undefeated Luke Campbell and this fight is him coming home for a softer defense. Quietly, Mendy put together a successful three fight winning streak after taking an April of 2015 loss to the well regarded Edis Tatti (24-1) of Finland in Helsinki.
French Boxing Hosts Big Card
A pair of twelve round bouts feature more regional titles on the line and could still pop up at the sport books. At Light Heavyweight, the EBU European title is on the line as titleholder Igor Mikhalkin puts his belt and 17-1 overall record on the line as he faces Patrick Bois. Bois, a 25 year old from France, breings an overall 14-4-1 mark to the match.
The WBC’s vacant Francophone belt is on the line as Franck Pettijean (15-4-3) takes on Hakim Ben Ali (13-3) of Belgium.
Below are the current lines for the featured fights. Don’t forget to check out the T’n’S video blog called French Boxing Hosts Big Card.
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Super Welterweight 12 rounds –
Ruben Varon +1000
Cedric Vitu -2000
Lightweight 12 rounds –
Samir Kasmi +2500
Yvan Mendy -7500
Middleweight 8 rounds –
Patrick Mendy +3000
Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam -11000
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