Oliver Meng takes on Khalil El Harraz in a 12-round title fight in Copenhagen

05/22/2023 - No comments

On Friday, May 26, Danish Fight Night and Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark will host a night full of exciting boxing as popular Danish fighters make their grand return to the ring in thrilling bouts.

Undefeated 23-year-old Danish boxing sensation Oliver Meng (10-0) will be tested in his first 12 rounder against tough Italian Khalil El Harraz (15-3-1) for the WBA Continental Europe super welterweight title.

In association with Royal Arena the Danish boxing promoter Bettina Palle, who runs Danish Fight Night, will present an interesting card with 11 fights in the capitol of Denmark with the young Danish southpaw fighter in the main event.

Oliver Meng is ranked 38 by WBC and is considered one of the best boxing prospects in Denmark. He is a European Youth bronze medalist as an amateur and has previously picked up the Youth belts from IBF and WBC in 10 round pro bouts, but this is his first ‘adult title bout’ scheduled for 12 rounds.

29-year-old Khalil El Harraz, who is based in Rome, Italy, is a pressure fighter, that has never been stopped, and he has only lost three times in 19 bouts. That was against strong opponents in Jack Culcay (currently ranked IBF #2 and WBC #10), Vincenzo Gualtieri (currently IBF #3) and Marcos Nader.

Former IBF featherweight world champion Sarah Mahfoud (11-1) is also back in action this Friday for the second time since losing to featherweight superstar Amanda Serrano in Manchester in September 2022.

The technical skilled Sarah Mahfoud, who was born in the Faroe Islands and is highly rated by all four major sanctioning organizations, won the WBC Silver title in her last fight in March by outpointing German fighter Lara Ochmann. This time she faces a tough Italian brawler in Veronica Tosi (4-1).

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All though Tosi only has fought five times as a pro, she has competed in 55 amateur bouts, which is the exact same number as Sarah Mahfoud. In one of her last amateur contests Veronica Tosi beat English/New Zealand boxer Amy Andrew, who as amateur holds wins against prominent fighters, that today are highly ranked in the pro ranks too such as Raven Chapman, Rebecca Hawker and Shannon Courtenay.

This could indicate an interesting clash between two different styles and perhaps a tough and difficult night for both fighters.

In a domestic cruiserweight clash between two Danish fighters 22-year-old Thorbjorn Boudingaard from Skive, Denmark will make his pro debut against undefeated 23-year-old Hamza Hussein (2-0) from Copenhagen, Denmark. Both fighters are skillful and talented, so it’s quite difficult to predict a winner of this contest.

In another evenly matched contest 25-year-old Danish fighter Jacob Porsgaard (6-0) takes on the physical strong Italian fighter Luca Di Loreto (4-1-1), also 25 years, in the super middleweight division. This will be the toughest opponent so far for Porsgaard, as Loreto has only lost one contest to an undefeated compatriot.

In a heavyweight contest 22-year-old Mathias Hansen will make his pro debut against Brazilian fighter Eduardo Sacramento da Silveira (1-2). The fast-handed Hansen had 30 amateur fights and won a silver medal at the 2017 European Junior Championships (under 17 years) in Bulgaria.

The fight card will also feature a cruiserweight contest between Danish fighter Tobias Soerig (4-1-1) and Tamas Kozma (6-9-3) from Hungary.

The six pro fights are preceded by five preliminary amateur contests (three times three minutes Olympic style boxing) organized by Herlev Boxing with some of the most talented Danish amateur fighters taking on strong international fighters.

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In one of those bouts the very promising 20-year-old Danish boxer Elias Idrissi will take on 36-year-old Walter Sarnoi Oupathana, who is based in Los Angeles, USA, but represented Laos at the 2021 world championships. Sarnoi has a record of 104 amateur fights and a total of 29 (25-4) pro fights (in USA, Mexico and Argentina).

The event is promoted by Bettina Palle, the daughter of Hall of Fame promoter Mogens Palle, who passed away last year due to cancer at the age of 88. The father-and-daughter-duo worked closely together for many years, and Bettina is very experienced in the sport.

She has teamed up with Royal Arena, a spectacular multi-use indoor arena in Copenhagen, to have a boxing event in this arena for the very first time, and to also host future events this place in an effort to create a new mecca of Danish boxing. The arena can be configurated to any size and type of event.

The event can be seen live on Pluto TV in Denmark, Sweden and Norway on the channel “Pluto TV Sport”. Pluto TV is a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service, that can be watched on all devices for free and without registration. Live coverage starts at 8.45 PM CET, and earlier fights will be shown tape delayed after the show.

Venue/place: Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark

Time: Friday May 26, show starts at 7:00 PM CET.

LIVE-broadcasting: Pluto TV / Pluto TV Sport www.pluto.tv (Denmark, Sweden, Norway).