HATTON PROMOTIONS’s international matchmaker Philippe Fondu believes Sergey Rabchenko’s European light-middleweight title defence against Emanuele Della Rosa will provide the perfect springboard to a world title shot.
Rabchenko is ranked as the number one contender to Saul Alvarez’s WBC crown, while Italy’s Della Rosa occupies the same sanctioning body’s number four spot.
The European Boxing Union (EBU) has called for purse bids to be opened on Tuesday June 18 and Hatton Promotions, if successful in the process, hope to get Rabchenko home advantage.
Due to both boxers having such high rankings, Fondu feels victory for his man will pave the way for a shot on the world stage.
“A good win of Rabchenko against Della Rosa should certainly establish Sergey as the leading contender in the light-middleweight division,” he said.
“A world title fight opportunity would then become a reality and shouldn’t be far away.”
Fondu, who manages a number of Europe’s best up-and-coming boxers, believes part of Sergey’s rise to the top can be attributed to him linking up with four-time world champion Ricky Hatton in 2012.
Their first fight together saw the unbeaten Belarusian lift his European championship by beating Ryan Rhodes. Since then he’s scored two more victories and added the WBC’s silver title to his collection.
“Sergey has very much improved since Ricky Hatton became his coach and the chemistry between the two is absolutely fantastic,” Fondu stated.
“Against Ryan Rhodes, it lead to a fantastic stoppage in the middle rounds and lately, against Adriano Nicchi, a three-time Italian champion , it was all over in two.
“Della Rosa will be his best opponent yet. His record is impressive and his sole loss, a controversial split decision, was in Germany against then top champion Sebastian Zbik.”
Ricky Hatton said: “I’m looking forward to Sergey’s potential defence against Della Rosa as it’s a great match.
“Della Rosa is very talented and has a decent world ranking so this not an easy fight by any means, but I’m confident Sergey will win and push on towards that world title shot.”
