Negotiations for a proposed bout between Arthur Abraham and Vernon Forrest are now off. Forrest appears to be heading in the direction of a summer showdown with his WBC mandatory Sergio Martinez. Abraham’s promoters, Sauerland Event, are in talks with Main Events to stage a summer bout between Arthur and the mandatory challenger to his IBF middleweight title, Giovanni Lorenzo. The fight with Lorenzo is suppoossed to be an “interim-bout” before a potential fall showdown between Abraham and WBC/WBO champion Kelly Pavlik. Pavlik defends against Sergio Mora on June 27 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
“We’ve been discussing the fight with [Sauerland Event’s] Chris Meyer. Giovanni is excited to get his opportunity to fight for a world title,” Main Events’ Kathy Duva, told Dan Rafael.
Lorenzo had his chance to fight Abraham last year. He was upset by veteran Raul Marquez in a mandatory eliminator. Marquez went on to fight Abraham and was stopped in six rounds last November, boxingscene.com reported.
