Manuel Charr-Fres Oquendo rebooked for March 23rd on Cologne

Fres Oquendo’s soap opera relationship with the WBA heavyweight title could finally come to an end this year. ESPN reports that his bout with the freshly unsuspended Manuel Charr will take place on March 23rd in Charr’s hometown of Cologne, Germany, just barely squeezing past the sanctioning body’s 60-day deadline.

The Oquendo (37-8, 24 KO) saga has been rather fascinating to watch even if he hasn’t stepped into the ring since a controversial majority decision loss to Ruslan Chagaev in 2014. He’s been tabbed to face the likes of Lucas Browne, Shannon Briggs, Charr, and Jarrell Miller for his legally mandated title shot, only for the first three guys to fail drug tests and the Miller fight turn out to be on too little notice.

He turns 46 in April. The most recent pictures Getty has are from his 2004 bout with John Ruiz.

Charr (31-4, 17 KO) got a wholly undeserved vacant title shot against the profoundly large and profoundly mediocre Alexander Ustinov in November of 2017 and has not competed since due to the aforementioned drug test issue. He’s over a decade younger than Oquendo.