19.04.06: Fight
Production's former two-time Intercontinental champion (IBF
& WBO) Gotthard 'The Cougar' Hinteregger
begins his against-all-odds comeback, just a few weeks shy
of his 39th birthday, by stepping up to middleweight to take on
undefeated German Sebastian Zbik on April 29 in Stuttgart.
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The
Austrian could not have chosen a harder task for his
first fight under new trainer Johann Senfter, as the
odds seem certainly stacked against him.
Hinteregger
is coming off two 11th-round stoppage defeats in title
fights last year. In October, Germany's Marco Schulze
relieved him of his IBF Intercontinental title at
superwelterweight (Hinteregger had voluntarily vacated
the WBO version) and in December, old nemesis Jozsef
Matolcsi settled their series 2-1 in his favour with a
win for the vacant WBF 'world' title in the same
division.
Photo: Gotti
keeping a smile through hard times. |
The former
surprise champion, Austria's most successful boxer in more than
a decade, seem to consider retirement after those setbacks
when saying "I have to reflect on those performances and
should I come to the conclusion that I can't do any better, then
I must call it a day." Now it seems Hinteregger has
convinced not only himself that he still has something to offer,
but also his manager Olaf Schroeder, who initially wanted to see
his fighter don the gloves for good.
But it will be
as a hard a comeback as they come for 'The Cougar'. Not that
Hinteregger is a stranger to causing an upset, but taking on a
young and undefeated prospect like Zbik one weight up takes some
effort. It's a testimony of the entertainment value the Vienna
man offers (his last five fights have all been televised at
prime-time on various stations) that he gets the opportunity to
appear on ZDF television on a promotion of that magnitude.
Former WBO
heavyweight title challenger Luan Krasniqi's comeback headlines
on this Universum Box-Promotion presentation. Sebastian Zbik is
handled by Universum sidekick Spotlight Boxing and the
24-year-old was brought along perfectly, now sporting a
dozen clean wins, five by knockout. The veteran from Austria is
25-9-1 (13 KO's) and has a wealth of experience with eight
title bouts of sorts under his belt. But the road back seems the
hardest road there is for ‘Gotti’ this time...
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