By Per Ake Persson

There should have been purse bids today in Rome for EBU light heavyweight champ Robert Stieglitz´s mandatory defence against Swede Erik Skoglund.

The deadline was as usual at noon Rome time - but half an hour before the message arrived that Skoglund had pulled out. Stieglitz will now get the highest available challenger in the EBU ratings as mandatory challenger.

As for Skoglund the plan has been for some time to challenge WBA regular champ Nathan Cleverly May 20 in Nykoping but there is still no deal in place.

Spanish super middleweight Mariano Hilario had been set for some time to fight Russian contender Dmitry Chudinov, first at a date in April and then May 5 in Madrid on a Rimer Boxe promotion with the vacant EBU title at stake. However on April 11 the news arrived that Chudinov had pulled out.

Eespabox.com reports that Hilario will now face Frenchman Hadillah Mouhoummedi, who stopped Hilario the first time they fought - and that was back in 2015 also for the then vacant EBU title.

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German Dieter Kottysch passed away earlier in the week at the age of 73 after a lengthy illness, reports BILD. Kottysch won Olympic Gold at light middleweight in Munich in 1972 representing West Germany. On his way to the finals Kottysch beat the likes of Bonifacio Avila and Alan Minter. Kottysch also participated in the 68 Olympics but never turned professional.