On March 27th ARENA will present its first show with new major German TV partner SAT.1 live from Sporthalle Hamburg when Steffen Kretschmann will meet Russian tough-guy Denis Bakhtov in a re-match. On June 26th 2009 Bakhtov had stopped Kretschmann in the first with a lucky punch. Now the German heavyweight hope wants to make up for his first career loss.

In the co-feature Cuban superstar Yuriorkis Gamboa returns to Hamburg to defend his WBA featherweight championship for the third time. In 2007 "El Ciclon" had started his fabulous pro-career in Hamburg after defecting from Cuba with team-mates and fellow Olympic gold medallists Odlanier Solis and Yan Barthelemy. Only three years later Gamboa is not only world champion but is held to be one of the most exciting fighters in the world today. His last title defense was broadcasted live on HBO from New York's world famous Madison Square Garden.

Gomez, Oral and Woge featured on the undercard

In addition to the two main events the show from Hamburg will feature last year's world championship contenders Juan Carlos Gomez and Mahir Oral plus former German amateur champion Robert Woge who will give his pro-debut.

There will be ten fights in total. The show starts at 7.00pm with. TV broadcast begins at 10.30pm. Tickets for this high-class event are on sale starting at 15,- Euro (plus fees and tax) on www.eventim.de/kretschmann. Exclusive VIP-packages cost 200,- Euro (plus fees and tax).

"El Ciclon" to defend his WBA featherweight championship against Rogers Mtagwa

ARENA's featherweight phenomenon Yuriorkis Gamboa will start the New Year with another tough test. At legendary Madison Square Garden "El Ciclon" will face Rogers Mtagwa from Tanzania. On October 10th 2009 both men thrilled the crowed at the WaMu Theatre at MSG. Gamboa defended his WBA featherweight championship by stopping Whyber Garcia in the fourth while Mtagwa had unbeaten WBO super bantamweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez very close to his first defeat.

On January 23rd the two exciting powerhouses face off in what might become an early fight of the year candidate. On the very same night JuanMa returns to the ring when he tries to capture the WBO featherweight title from Steven Luevano. HBO will broadcast the great show live on "Boxing After Dark".

"This show will be the first real highlight of 2010", states ARENA-CEO Ahmet Öner who is co-promoting the night with Top Rank and PR Best Boxing. "Gamboa was very impressive at his first appearance at the Garden. Now everybody is excited how he will handle Mtagwa who showed a fantastic fight against Lopez and was very close to stopping JuanMa. Of course, I am looking forward to the great fight between Lopez and Luevano as well."

If Gamboa can successfully defend his WBA championship while Lopez manages to win the WBO belt from Luevano the two spectacular young guns may be on collision course for a title unification later this year.

"It's too early to speculate about this right now", states Gamboa. "I have to give my best to beat Mtagwa. This is all I'm thinking about right now. I will beat him because I want to prove that I am the best boxer in the world today."

Boxing fans in Germany have the chance to watch the show live on SKY. The broadcast will start at 3:00am on early Sunday morning (Jan 24).

Mahir Oral, Konstantin Airich and Ondrej Pala back in action on January 23

2010 starts with a big bang for ARENA. Ahmet Öner and his team will begin the New Year with a "trans-atlantic double-feature". While featherweight phenomenon Yuriorkis Gamboa defends his WBA championship at New York's world famous Madison Square Garden ARENA's German talents return to Cuxhaven's "Kugelbake-Halle".

Mahir Oral who lost in a dramatic battle to IBF "King" Arthur Abraham in June 2009 will try to reenter the championship race. German heavy prospect Konstantin Airich wants to back up his one-sided decision win against Cisse Salif from October 24th. And up and coming German super middleweight Christian Pawlak is seeking to continue his way to a European title shot.

Promoter Ahmet Öner: "Our goal is to keep up the high quality of our last shows in Cuxhaven. We always want to offer the audience close and interesting fights."

Besides Oral, Airich and Pawlak Öner will present 2008 Olympic gold medallist Felix Diaz from the Dominican Republic in Germany for the first time. Diaz who is represented by ARENA's Russian partner German Titov has turned pro last year and won all of his first three pro-fight including two stoppages.

Another promising prospect who returns to Cuxhaven for the third time is Czech heavyweight Ondrej Pala. After defeating Konstantin Airich and former Ukrainian amateur standout Alex Mazikin Pala will take on US ring veteran Robert Hawkins on January 23.

There will be nine fights in total. Eurosport will broadcast the show from 9:30pm to 11:30pm Central European time.