09.05.07 – Mads Larsen celebrated a successful ring return on Tuesday night when he clinched a unanimous points verdict over Russia´s Vasily Andriyanov in Spain. Despite a break of over three-and-a-half years, the former European super-middleweight champion dominated the entire eight rounds and was ahead 80-72 on all three scorecards. “It´s great to be back,” Larsen said afterwards. “That was a good start. I am happy to be fighting again.”
Larsen (46-2, 37 KOs) had last been in action back in October 2003 when he deprived Germany´s Danilo Haeussler of his European belt. Injury problems as well as a tedious lawsuit with his former promoters then kept him out of the ring for what felt like ages. On Tuesday night in Guadalajara, however, a long drought had finally come to an end. “It felt good to go the full distance. Even though I have been out of the ring for such a long time, I was in a very good shape. I could raise the tempo as the fight went on.”
Larsen stamped his authority on the bout early, making good use of his right jab. From the third round on, he also found range with his southpaw left. The 34-year-old then upped pressure and eventually rocked his opponent (7-13, 1 KO) with a big left in the sixth round. He followed it up with a nice right-left combination in the seventh before cruising to an uncontested victory.
Larsen carried a big smile on his face after the final bell. “I knew Andriyanov had never been stopped in his career,” he said. “That´s why I tried to fight rather carefully without committing too many mistakes. It did not work out all the time but the most important thing for me was to get back into the ring and win. So I am very pleased. It was a good start but I should be able to improve at least 50 or 60 percent.”
Coach Ulli Wegner praised his new athlete for a spirited performance. “I thought tactically he fought a very good fight,” lauded the 65-year-old. “After such a long break he should not try to knock out his opponent but go the full distance. That´s just what he did. He then noticed that he is already in a very good shape.”
On the undercard, up-and-coming super-middleweight Karo Murat (9-0, 5 KOs) clinched his ninth victory in as many fights when he easily defeated Nicolas Vicente Perillo Rodriguez (4-5, 1 KO) on points.