The semifinals round for the WBSS (World Boxing Super Series) 168 pounds tournament will conclude tonight when Callum Smith takes on former GLORY welterweight kickboxing champion Nieky Holzken at the Arena Nurnberger Versicherung, Nuremberg, Germany live on ITVBoxOffice.
Smith (23-0, 17 KOs) was originally scheduled to face off against former champion Jurgen Brahmer who beat Rob Brant to advance to the semifinals, but Brahmer with only 4 days until the fight had to pull out due to a feverish illness that left him extremely weak.
Holzken (13-0, 10 KOs) was supposed to face Dmitry Chudinov on the undercard stepped in as a late replacement to salvage the event and also saw this as an opportunity to shine, if he wins against Smith he would pull off one of the bigger upsets in boxing and advance to the final championship bout of the WBSS tournament.
Both boxers are undefeated but Smith is the heavy favorite, at 6 foot 3 he has the size and reach but also the professional boxing experience, while Holzken who recently started to focus on boxing after losing his last 3 kickboxing matches is coming off a second round TKO win over former Olympian Viktor Polyakov.
WBA super middleweight world champion George Groves who just won a decision over Chris Eubank Jr. will be waiting for the winner of tonight’s bought to face them in the championship finale to crown the winner of the tournament and the Muhammad Ali Trophy on June 2, 2018 at the The O2 Arena in London.
The February 24 WBSS semifinal fight Callum Smith vs. Nieky Holzken will be televised across England and Germany, and can be live streamed online at www.itvboxoffice.com.
