By Erik Schmidt: Undefeated WBO light heavyweight champion Zsolt Erdei (28-0, 17 KOs) makes his 10th defense of his title on Saturday night against American DeAndrey Abron (15-1, 10 KOs) at the Freiberger Arena, in Dresdan, Sachsen, Germany. Erdei, 33, originally from Budapest, Hungary, and now living and fighting out of Hamburg, Germany, has been nearly invincible since winning the WBO light heavyweight crown in January 2004 with a 12-round unanimous decision over Julio Cesar Gonzalez.
Since then, Erdei has mowed down his light heavyweight opposition, beating the likes of Hugo Hernan Garay, Paul Murdoch, Thomas Ulrich and Danny Santiago to name just a few. Most of Erdei’s opponents are hardly recognizable to most fans, which has kept him from making more of a name for himself than he should have considering the long period that he’s held the WBO title. Part of that has to be laid at the feet of Erdei himself, as he should have gone looking for more recognizable opponents during these years, someone like Glen Johnson, Chad Dawson, Roy Jones Jr. and Clinton Woods. Anyone of them would have gone a long way towards earning the 33 year-old Erdei more credibility on the world stage, and likely given him a chance at even bigger paydays than what he’s been getting while fighting in Germany.
However, it’s common for German-based fighters to fight softer than average fighters rather than risking all and fighting someone that could potentially take their title away. For that reason, it’s difficult to say who good that Erdei really is. To be sure, he’s looked good in bouts with Ulrich, a good German fighter, as well as his title winning fight against Gonzalez in 2004. However, beyond that, Erdei has fought largely easier B-class fighters, which has enabled him to keep his title a lot longer than he should have in my estimation. He doesn’t measure up to the other top light heavyweights in the division like Antonio Tarver, Dawson, Glen Johnson, or Clinton Woods.
In choosing Abron, ranked #4 in the WBO, Erdei appears to fighting another fighter that shouldn’t give him too many problems. Though the 35 year-old Abron’s record is 15-1, 10 KOs), he’s fought next to nobody during his career, at least in terms of highly ranked fighters. Most of Abron’s wins have come against C class opponents, with the best being his win over a previously undefeated Shane Benfield in 2007. The 6’3” Abron will have a considerable height advantage over Erdei consisting of five inches, along with an equally long reach advantage.
However, it will be interesting to see if Abron will be able to take advantage of it because he’ll be taking such a big leap up in competition on Saturday night. Adding to that is the fact that Abron will be facing a large pro-Erdei crowd in Germany, most of which will be screaming with every punch that Erdie throws regardless if they make contact or not. That makes it especially hard for outside fighters to win decisions in Germany, because the fans scream like mad whether their hometown fighters are missing or connecting with their shots, which has to have an effect on the judges.
Look for Erdei to pound out an easy decision over the overmatched Abron. He’s going to have to apply heavy pressure on Erdei because if he allows Erdei to stand on the outside and jab at will, Abrons won’t have a chance in the fight. Erdei had problems with George Blades in 2007, who gave Erdei all kinds of problems before the fight was stopped in the 11th when Erdei hurt Blades with some big shots.
Perhaps Erdei is beginning to show his age, but whatever the case, Blades showed the blueprint on how to beat Erdei. That is, by pressuring him constantly and not allowing Erdei to fight at his usual slow methodical pace from the outside. Erdei doesn’t like to get hit so it’s important that Abron attempt to put hands on him as much as possible to throw him off his game and make him unravel a little.