20.9.2007: “I expect Willi to become the first man to stop Aleksejs Kosobokovs!” – The expectations of Fight Production manager Olaf Schroeder are certainly putting the pressure on sensible comebacking heavyweight Willi “De Ox” Fischer to improve when he meets the durable Latvian over 8 rounds this Friday (Sept. 21) in Lübeck, Germany.

Former International German and WBO Intercontinental champion Fischer, from Frankfurt/Main, earlier this year signed with Fight Production and returned to the ring after two years out with a solid 6-round decision over Ukrainian Alexander Mileiko in July on an Arena Box-Promotion event. This brought the 35-year-old ex-WBO # 1 heavyweight contenders’ record to an impressive 33-6-1 (22 KO’s) and set him up for the second step of his comeback. Besides being promoted by Arena, the new team of ‘De Ox’ includes head coach Tom Leidenheimer.

The 29-year-old Kosobokovs, from Riga, seems a sensible choice for the purpose. Despite being smaller, he brings a rather unimpressive record of 9-7 (3) to the ring, but numbers can be deceiving. Top class cruisers like Valery Brudov and Johny Jensen or rising stars like Pawel Kolodziej or Yoan Pablo Hernandez all had to settle for points wins and certainly taught Kosobokovs to handle himself in tough competition. Should Fischer therefore be able to inflict the first stoppage loss on the Latvian, it would definitely send some sort of message, at the very least to the number of young, rising German heavyweights.

Schroeder is optimistic, especially after impressive sparrings with Fight Production’s other heavyweight star Richel Hersisia and hard South African Miyan Solomons. “I fully believe in Willi! Maybe nobody understands me, but I would not have signed him if I didn’t believe in him. We are a great team and we all feel good about it. I really think that its not too late to maximise Willi’s vast potential and when that happens, there’s no stopping ‘De Ox’!” Friday night should give some clue as to whether more people will become believers.