DiBella Entertainment Signs International Light Heavyweight Zsolt Erdei

Added on Oct 20, 2010 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

With stars like Sergio Martinez and Celestino Caballero already on their roster, it’s clear that DiBella Entertainment is no stranger to picking up talent from outside the United States. This time, however, they traveled across the Atlantic to sign the Hungarian born and raised Zsolt Erdei to a promotional contract.

Erdei, who thus far has only fought in Europe, is an undefeated light heavyweight with an official record of 31-0 with 17 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

“What’s coming up next for me is in America,” said Erdei. “To be successful there is the next step after having achieved mostly everything in Europe. The big names in my weight class, I want to challenge and defeat them. That’s my goal.”

He’ll get a quick start to his new goal as the folks over at DiBella Entertainment already have him scheduled to face Samson Onyango on November 20 as Sergio Williams rematches Paul Williams at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

The 36 year old Erdei got his first taste at a world title in 2004 when he soundly defeated Julio Gonzales over the course of 12 rounds to earn the WBO Light Heavyweight Championship.

After successfully defending his light heavyweight crown an impressive 11 times, Erdei decided to make the jump up to the cruiserweight division in 2009 when he took on Giacobbe Fragomeni in Germany.

After 12 extremely close rounds 2 of the 3 judges felt that Erdei did enough to dethrone the champion and he was awarded the WBC Cruiserweight title with his majority decision win. Rather than defend his cruiserweight crown, Erdei is opting to make his return to the light heavyweight division, and looks to do so in America.

“We had a few options, especially from US promoters,” said Erdei. “After a lot of discussions and negotiations, we had met with Lou DiBella and DiBella Entertainment in New York. These meetings were always very positive. He made the best offer, and what was very important to me was that he believes in me and displayed this clearly to myself.”

If Erdei can get through November 20 with a win over Oyango, as he is fully expected to, he will have a plethora of enticing options awaiting him, such as taking on the winner of the upcoming Jean Pascal and Bernard Hopkins title bout or other names such as Chad Dawson or Tarvoris Cloud.

After quickly getting the fight with Oyango in place, DiBella Entertaiment will sure think long and hard as to who they would like to see their brand new acquisition in with next.

But with a fighter who has the credential that Erdei does, I suspect they won’t have to look to far for a worthy opponent.

“Zsolt is a Hungarian megastar and one of the best European fighters of the past decade,” said DiBella Entertainment President Lou DiBella. “With his return, he becomes one of the big five in the light heavyweight division, and provides a champion’s challenge to Pascal, Cloud, Dawson, and Hopkins. DiBella Entertainment is thrilled to be able to introduce him to the American audience.”