By Michael Tornay: Super middleweight contender Librado Andrade (27-1, 21 KOs) overwhelmed Russian Robert Stieglitz (31-2, 19 KOs) with punches, stopping him in the 8th round of a scheduled 12-round IBF Super Middleweight Title Eliminator on the undercard of the Michael Katsidis vs. Joel Casamayor bout at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, in Cabazon, California, on Saturday night. Andrade, who failed previously in a title challenge against then super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler in March 2007, a fight in which Andrade lost every round of their 12-round bout.
However, Saturday’s opponent, Robert Stieglitz, 26, had none of the speed, ring skills or movement that Kessler had, and couldn’t avoid the non-stop punches of Andrade. Though Stieglitz, ranked #4 in the IBF, made it interesting for awhile at least, winning the fourth and fighting competitively in the 5th, he eventually was hurt by a right hand from Andrade in the 8th. Once he had him hurt, Andrade quickly finished Stieglitz off with a flurry of shots while he attempted to cover up on the ropes. The referee Ray Corona stepped in and stopped the bout at 1:53 of the 8th round, while Stieglitz was still on his feet.
The win for Andrade, however, sets him up for a fight with IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, whose style of fighting is somewhat similar to Kesslers’. Though not as fast, slick or as powerful as Kessler, Bute appears to be a very formidable opponent for Andrade, who for his part, is mostly a punching machine and little else.
In the 1st and 2nd rounds, Andrade, as usual, immediately pounced on Stieglitz, hitting him with combinations – mostly uppercuts with both hands – and giving him all kinds of problems. Stieglitz, who previously challenged for the then vacant IBF super middleweight title last year in March 2007, and was stopped in the 3rd round by Alejandro Berrio, looked badly intimidated by Andrade. In fact, Stieglitz seemed to be paralyzed either by Andrade or the large American crowd he was fighting in front of. Before this, Stieglitz and largely fought against European fodder in Germany, and other than Berrio, whom he traded wins against, Stieglitz had next to zero experience against American-based fighters. As a result, he looked ill-prepared for the style of Andrade, who bloodied his nose in the first round.
In the 3rd round, Andrade continued with his blistering pace as he poured in a blizzard of punches during the round, hitting Stieglitz with frequent uppercuts, for which he had no defense against. Normally, this is something that a fighter is trained for and knows to move his head from one side to another to defense against, but Stieglitz seemed to be seeing the punch for the first time in his life and didn’t have clue one what to do prevent it. Seeing that it was a good thing, Andrade stuck with it all fight long, almost throwing little else but uppercuts for the most part. Whenever Stieglitz would attempt to clinch, Andrade would pound him with his free hand, making Stieglitz pay for his clinches. By the end of the round, Stieglitz’s right cheek was swelling, and, of course, his nose was still bleeding.
Stieglitz looked uncharacteristically good in the fourth round, almost looking like a poor-man’s Kessler as he used movement, a jab and fast combinations to control the round and keep Andrade from landing. When Andrade would rush in, as he normally does, Stieglitz used his hands to steer him around the ring, like a bull. It was smart fighting from Stieglitz, but unfortunately for him, he immediately forgot what he did in this round and reverted back to his old style of standing in front of Andrade in the remaining four rounds.
In rounds five though seven, Andrade regained control of the fight and unloaded with shot after shot. Stieglitz did well in the early portion of rounds five and six, but allowed Andrade to come on in the last 30 seconds and steal the round by hitting him with long, sustained combinations while Stieglitz covered up on the ropes. The seventh round was close, for Stieglitz fought well all throughout the round, hitting Andrade with some beautiful combinations and then not allowing him to take control in the last 30 seconds as he had in the last couple of rounds. The round could have gone either way, but due to all the blood all over Stieglitz’s face, he looked beaten even when he was doing well.
Stieglitz was having a good 8th round when all of a sudden Andrade landed a series of hard body shots with his left hand, driving Stieglitz to the ropes. As he was trying to escape from the ropes, Stieglitz was hit with a spearing right hand from Andrade that staggered him, causing him to back up to the ropes. Andrade went after him and landed a brief flurry of punches, ending with the referee stepping in and halting the right at 1:53 of the 8th round.