Frenkel Suffering from Burnout

Numerous sources are reporting that cruiserweight Alexander Frenkel is suffering from burnout, in addition to an injured hand, which goes towards explaining why Frenkel has been absent from the ring for over a year.

Chris Meyer, who works with Frenkel, told the media, "We noticed even at training he wasn't really into it." Frenkel won the European title in September of 2010 in impressive fashion. Most thought he would challenge for a world title this year. "Everyone deals with [pressure] differently. Some drive fast cars; others go after beautiful women. Alexander is rather more the type to worry a lot about it."

Frenkel (23-0, 18 KOs) intends to take at least the rest of the year off. If Frenkel is able to rediscover his love of boxing, he could fight as soon as early 2012.

Frenkel Injured, Vacates Belt

According to (you guessed it) Per Ake Persson of BoxingScene.com, Alexander Frenkel is injured and will not be able to fight Enad Licina on October 22. As a result, Frenkel (23-0, 18 KOs) will be forced to vacate his European cruiserweight title. Licina is scheduled to battle Alexander Alexeev for the vacant belt.

Since knocking out Enzo Maccarinelli in September of 2010, Frenkel hasn't fought in the ring. He's been scheduled to do so several times since, but nothing has materialized. The German-based Ukrainian was set to fight in February, but suffered an injury. He was going to face Silvio Branco in June, and then July, but Branco eventually backed out. Now the Licina fight has dissolved as Frenkel enters his thirteenth month of inactivity.

Melson Adds Another Win

In a match in which both fighters came in just over the junior middleweight limit, Boyd Melson controlled his opponent Russ Niggemyer on route to an easy unanimous decision in their six round bout tonight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

A southpaw, Melson used his lead hand in cruising to the win on the scorecards. The judges had the fight 60-53, 60-54, 59-55. Melson raised his mark to 6-0 with three KOs. Niggemyer, a 30 year old from Ohio, fell to 2-4 with two KOs.

Melson, who has donated each of his six pro boxing purses to spinal cord injury research, received some publicity on The Ring's website this past week.