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Abraham Upsets Stieglitz to Recapture a Crown and a Crowd

Published

11 years ago

March 2, 2014

A ROYAL RETURN – Robert Stieglitz and Arthur Abraham collided for their tiebreaker at a super-middleweight crossroads Saturday night in defending champion Stieglitz’s hometown, Magdeburg, Germany.

When it was over after 12 rounds of mauling mayhem, both men were validated. It was “King” Abraham who captured a grueling split decision.

It was a punishing, often ugly bout, and quite entertaining. It may well have been the best fight of a very fine fight weekend.

Scoring went 115-110 and 114-111 for Abraham, both realistic tallies, and 113-112 for Stieglitz, which seemed like a stretch. Hard to imagine giving Stieglitz the nod. He fought hard, but came up short in round after hard fought round.

Abraham took plenty of shots, but he never really wobbled. Stieglitz was out on his feet after being dropped with 30 seconds left in the final frame, and was probably saved by the bell.

Each man lost a point for infractions that seemed less deliberate than a result of a wild battle.

The trilogy featured two of Germany’s most popular punching performers, who seemed to end up in a winner take all type situation as far as future marketability. In their initial encounter, Abraham put his career back on the top track with a close unanimous decision win. In the rematch, Stieglitz made Abraham look like a fighter at the end of his better days.

Each man had his moments tonight. Nobody would object to a fourth fight.

Abraham looked like he was in fine physical condition as he and Stieglitz both weighed in at the 168 limit. Abraham seemed a bit uptight and didn’t look like he was tuned in properly. That might have had something to do with fighting for another lead promoter, as Stieglitz’s promoters SES had the reins, or maybe it was a dispute about an extra 1/4 pound at the weigh-in.

Stieglitz looked very focused and relaxed immediately prior to the bout, but once the bell rang it was the more widely experienced Abraham who carried out his game plan. He covered up well, picked off many punches, and timed Stieglitz coming in with stunning accuracy. Abraham did an excellent job with wide left uppercuts and crosses.

For Abraham, now 39-4 (28), the clock was almost turned back to before the Super Six. He will probably defend his new belt throughout Germany a couple times this year.

Each man’s options are probably limited in terms of matching a payday like tonight’s, unless they head to the States for an underdog assignment against a favored fighter from the Americas. Both fighters’ best bet would seem to remain in Germany, unless somebody like Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr or Gennady Golovkin came calling with an irresistible payday.

Abraham – Golovkin at 168 could be quite a blast, even if that’s only for a few rounds. Abraham – Felix Sturm could be a German stadium fight.

Stieglitz, 46-4 (26), didn’t seem to lose much ground in motivation or marketability. It will be interesting to see how far the region on his drawing board extends. It might be worth it in the long run to gather some frequent flyer miles.

Abraham remains a straightforward, hard working guy with a decent foundation. How far this chapter of his championship run might go remains to be seen, but tonight it was enough for a big win.

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Phil Woolever

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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