World Boxing Super Series: Callum Smith to face reserve after opponent Jürgen Brähmer withdraws due to illness
The British super-middleweight will now face Nieky Holzken after Brähmer was forced to withdraw from this Saturday's semi-final with an unspecified illness
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Your support makes all the difference.Callum Smith will face a reserve for a place in the World Boxing Super Series final after his opponent for Saturday's last-four clash, Jürgen Brähmer, withdrew from the bout late on Monday.
Smith, the youngest of Liverpool's famous four boxing brothers, was set to take on seasoned German Braehmer in Nuremberg this weekend to decide who will face George Groves in the final this summer.
Braehmer, 39, was made a relatively wide outsider by the bookmakers but, as a former two-time world champion at light-heavyweight, he had been tipped by some to upset the 27-year-old Smith.
However, the German will not get that chance after an as-yet unspecified problem forced him to pull out of the clash entirely, meaning that reserve Nieky Holzken is now set to step in to face Smith in Nuremberg, with the bout set to be confirmed in the next few days.
It is not an ideal situation for Smith, either, having prepared to face the clever southpaw Braehmer for months, he will now have to alter his preparation completely for a new opponent.
Holzken, 34, is undefeated in 13 fights, with 10 wins coming by knockout, although he has never competed at world level. He was due to take on Dmitri Chudinov on the undercard in Germany but will now take his place in the main event.
It is the first time in either of the eight-man World Boxing Super Series tournaments, taking place at super-middleweight and cruiserweight this season, has suffered from a pre-fight pull out.
This is the first year the competition has run and the fear for such a tight schedule, where the quarter-finals kicked off in September and October of last year with the two finals set to take place in June of this year, was that it may be upset by injuries.
But after running serenely so far, it has now ran into trouble in the 12st category twice in a matter of days.
The two winning semi-finalists at super-middleweight were due to meet at London's O2 Arena on 2 June but that may be put back slightly as a result of the shoulder injury Groves sustained in beating Chris Eubank Jr on Saturday night.
The Londoner's left shoulder popped out of its socket in the final round and he was forced to hang on with only one functioning arm for the final two minutes of his comprehensive victory.
The rehabilitation on the injury may require a slightly longer turnaround time for the final and the tournament's management, fronted by Team Sauerland Promotions, have astutely suggested they may delay the final.
Groves is the No 1 seed and only current world champion in the tournament at light-heavyweight and the WBSS would suffer as a result of a final without him.
But it will now also have to do without Braehmer, who beat America's Rob Brant in the quarter-final, due to illness, with Smith now a very firm favourite to take care of the replacement and set up a huge summer Battle of Britain with Groves.
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