By Jeff Aranow: Former two division world champion Arthur Abraham (44-5, 28 KOs) weighed in at 168 pounds for his 12 round fight against #15 WBO Tim-Robin Lihaug (15-1, 8 KOs) for their fight on Saturday night at the Max-Schmeling-Halle, in Berlin, Germany. The 23-year-old Lihaug weighed in at 167.6lbs.
This is supposed to be a mismatch, but it’s hard to tell for sure because Abraham is starting to get long in the tooth at 36. Abraham was easily beaten in his last fight against Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez last April in a losing a 12 round unanimous decision. Ramirez, 24, is a good fighter, but he’s not as good as he looked in that fight.
Abraham made Ramirez look better by not going after him to force him to brawl. That was the only chance Abraham had of winning, and he didn’t even try to turn it into a war. That leads one to believe that Abraham may no longer have enough motivation to fight hard at his age. He’s made a lot of money, and it’s unclear whether he has the desire to fight as hard as he needs to for him to beat the younger, faster and bigger guys in the 168lb division.
Lihaug is nothing special. He’s already been beaten by Oscar Ahlin three years ago in losing by a third round knockout. Lihaug has taken it easy since then in facing weak opposition and padding his record with wins over poor opponents.
If Abraham loses to Lihaug on Saturday night, then he needs to think seriously retiring because there’s nothing there for him in the division in terms of winning another world title. If Abraham is good with being a fringe contender, then he can continue his career.
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WBA World super middleweight champion Giovanni De Carolis (24-6, 12 KOs) weighed in at 166.7 pounds for his title defense against the unbeaten #13 WBA Tyron Zeuge (18-0, 10 KOs). The 24-year-old Zeuge weighed in at 167.1lbs. If De Carolis looks as good as he did in his last fight against Vincent Feigenbutz last January, then he should easily win this fight because Zeuge is a mediocre fighter that only knows how to punch with his right hand. He’s not a complete fighter.
Other weights on the card:
Burak Sahin 228 vs Jakov Gospic 246.9
Ramona Kuehne 131.6 vs Ikram Kerwat 132.3
Stefan Haertel 166.5 vs Mateo Damian Veron 166.3
Sebastian Formella 153.9 vs Nico Salzmann 152.1
Anthony Ogogo 161.6 vs Bronislav Kubin 161.2
Charlie Edwards 114.9 vs Jose Aguilar 116.9
Alexander Peil 194 vs Igor Pylypenko 202.2
Freddy Kywitt 145.1 vs Igor Faniyan TBC