International Boxing Federation middleweight champion Arthur Abraham stopped challenger Wayne Elcock (18-3, 8 KOs) in the 5th round of a scheduled 12-round bout Saturday night at the St. Jakob Halle, in Basel, Switzerland. Abraham dropped Elcock in the 2nd round and hurt him in the fifth, causing Elcock to fall into the ropes briefly. The referee, Wayne Kelly, gave Elcock a standing eight count, and moments after the action resumed, Abraham hit Elcock with a flurry of punches that had the British challenger literally out on his feet. The referee then moved in and halted the fight at 1:58 of the fifth round.
Apart from the knockdowns, however, Elcock surprisingly controlled ever second of the bout, using his double jabs, fast hands and repeated combinations to keep Abraham off balance. In fact, Elcock easily appeared to win rounds 1, 3 and 4, with Abraham looking frustrated and lost not seeming to understand how to cope with Elcock’s fire power. It should have been no surprise that Elcock was a well-schooled boxer, after his unanimous decision win over Howard Eastman in September. However, despite Elcock’s excellent boxing skills, his chin was like swiss cheese.
In the 3rd round, both fighters clashed heads resulting in a cut over Abraham’s right eye. A worried looking Abraham tried to fend off Elcock’s attacks afterwards but had little luck as he continued to take punishment from the more highly skilled British fighter.
Afterwards, Abraham had this to say about the fight, “I’m happy that I won tonight. It wasn’t an easy fight.”
