French great Jean Josselin passed away on February 7 at the age of 81 after a short illness. Josselin was a very good amateur and fought in the 1960 Olympics in Rome where he lost to none other than Nino Benvenuti.

In 1961 Josselin turned pro and won the EBU welterweight title twice and challenged the great Curtis Cokes for the world title but lost on points. In 1969 Jean suffered a bad loss in Vienna against Austrian Johan Orsolics but fought on until 1972 losing more than he was winning and finally retired with a record of 66-16-7. In retirement he owned a bar in his hometown of Besancon.

Lightweight prospects Sabri Sediri (13-1-1) and Jaouad "Le Bombardier Marocain" Belmehdi (10-0-3) clash for the vacant French title on February 27 in Beziers.

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Polish/British promoter, manager and agent Martin Mikolajczak's latest project is to begin promoting professional boxing events in Ostrava in the Czech Republic and a show was all set for a date in February but eventually he was forced to postpone the whole thing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"I am however talking with TV in the Czech Republic and I am looking to sign up some local talent. There are many good fighters," says Mikolajczak.

Mikolajczak got his start in boxing when he was introduced to heavyweight Michael Hunter, who was then coming off a loss to Oleksandr Usyk.

"Before that I was a boxing fan. I grew up watching the likes of Andrew Golota but it was as manager for Hunter I became an insider."

Hunter and Mikolaczak were a team from this moment until the fight against Alexander Povetkin in 2019 that ended in a draw, and in-between Hunter beat the likes of Martin Bakole and Alexander Ustinov earning good money.

As manager Mikolajczak has an interesting stable with Polish super middleweight Robert Parzeczewski (25-2) as the main fighter. However, last time out Parzeczewski was stopped by unheralded Uzbek fighter Sherzod Khusanov..

" Robert will be back in March with a tune up and then we go for a rematch against Khusanov. Parzcewski can go all the way and what more is, he wants to go all the way."

Team Mikojczak also includes a couple of American heavyweights in Nick Asberry (9-1) and George Fa´avae (4-0). Asberry is best known for his job as sparring partner for Tyson Fury and like Fa´avae is coming off a long layoff. 

"Both are ready to go and I expect to have them on shows in Poland during the spring."

Also in the team is Shawnell Winters, 40, who's coming off two straight losses and was stopped by Alen Babic last time, but Mikolajczak is confident Winters got more in the tank.

"I have passion for boxing," says Martin, who owns a construction company in the UK and is a project manager."