What could be the end of their four-fight rivalry, World Boxing Organization (WBO) 175lb champion Arthur Abraham (43-4, 29 KOs) defeated his old frequently fought nemesis Robert Stieglitz (47-5-1, 27 KOs) in a 6th round knockout tonight in what many boxing fans hope will be the end of their constant rematches at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany.
Abraham hurt Stieglitz with an overhand right in the opening seconds of the 6th. Stieglitz continued to press forward despite being hurt. Abraham followed up with some clubbing shots that ended with him blasting Stieglitz with a right to the head that send him down. Stieglitz got to his feet but his corner waived the towel to referee Earl Brown to have the bout stopped.
Earlier in the fight, Abraham knocked Stieglitz down with a spearing jab that caused his feet to slip out from under him. It looked like a blown call by the referee in him scoring it as a knockdown. Thankfully, the bad call didn’t have an effect on the outcome of the fight.
Stieglitz appeared to be trying the same high volume punch attack that he used in his second fight with Abraham to defeat him. While it worked in that fight, it didn’t work tonight because Abraham fired back hard shots in response each time Stieglitz would attack him. Abraham also used a lot of movement that kept Stieglitz from being able to pin him down and batter him with shots like he’d done in the past. But neither fighter looked good. They both missed a lot of shots, and it hard to see them as comparable to the top fighters in the division because of how mediocre they looked.
The win for Abraham is the third in four contests with Stieglitz. Abraham said throughout the buildup to the fight that this bout would end the series of fights the two German based fighters have had, but that remains to be seen. You have to imagine that if Abraham falls on tough times once he starts facing the other top fighters in the division, which hasn’t exactly been doing since he left the Super Six tournament in 2011, he’ll revert to fight Stieglitz once again in rematch after rematch. The money they can make fighting each other has got to be a huge lure for them. As long as they keep fighting, the German fans will likely keep paying to see them fight.
The talk now is that Abraham will be fighting the aging Felix Sturm next despite the fact that Sturm was recently beaten by Fedor Chudinov. It’s good title-milking fight for Abraham and buy him some more time to hold onto his WBO title.
If Abraham is serious about not wanting to fight Stieglitz any longer, then it’s a good thing because these constant rematches have been played out to the hilt. It’s enough already. The boxing fans want to see if Abraham and Stieglitz can beat the other top fighters, but unfortunately that’s not going to happen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgClLigzR24
Undercard results:
Anthony Ogogo UD 6 Ruslan Schelev
Stefan Haertel UD 6 Maurice Possiti
Leon Bauer TKO 2 Misa Nikolic
Enrico Koelling UD 8 Vasyl Kondor
Vincent Feigenbutz TKO 3 Mauricio Reynoso
Noel Gevor UD 8 Lukasz Rusiewicz
Mike Keta TKO 3 Aliklych Kanbolatov
