By Erik Schmidt: Undefeated cruiserweight prospect Artur Hein (7-0, 4 KOs) won an unimpressive six-round unanimous decision over Blanchard Kalambay (3-8-2, 3 KOs) on Saturday night at the Erdgas Arena, in Riesa, Sachsen, Germany. In this case, Hein, 23, considered to be a potential start, looked like the lesser fighter in comparison to the 26-year-old Kalambay from Congo. Though Kalambay lost the fight on all three cards, he appeared to have the much better overall physical tools – faster hand speed, better power, jab and movement – and only needs the training to develop him.
The final judges’ scores were 58-57, 58-56 and 58-55. Hein was knocked down in the 6th round after walking into a hard right hand from Kalambay.
In the 1st round, Hein came out looking cautious, throwing jabs that landed well short of his target. Immediately, it was clear that Kalambay was much faster and hard a lot more power in his shots than Hein. Kalambay moved around the ring, jabbing Hein frequently to the head. Hein fought flat footed, leaning backwards to prevent from getting hit with the hard jabs from the taller 6’2″ Kalambay. Hein looked nothing like a highly touted prospect in the round, and if someone were to ask me who the prospect was, I would have immediately picked out Kalambay, who looked a lot.
In the 2nd round, neither fighter landed many meaningful punches. Hein landed a handful of right hands, but they lacked power because he was fighting tentatively to try and prevent getting nailed by the much quicker Kalambay when he was coming in punching range. Kalambay landed a couple of hard right hands but mostly stalked Hein without letting his hands go.
In the 3rd round, Kalambay missed with some huge left hooks at the start of the round, punches that would have probably taken Hein’s head off if he landed with them. Hein looked more than a little scared after dodging those shots. For the next minute, Hein was content to jab at Kalambay and stay away from any real exchanges with him. In the last part of the round, Hein landed two jab-right hand shots to the head of Kalambay. However, Kalambay landed a monstrous right hand as the round ended.
In the 4th, both fighters exchanged jabs in the opening minute. Hein then opened up with a couple of nice right hands. Kalambay immediately drove him back with a much bigger right hand. However, Kalambay missed with several other left hooks and right hands that would have caused Hein considerable trouble if they had landed. Hein had much better luck with his accuracy, landed a couple of right hands in the closing minute. There wasn’t many shots that landed cleanly in the round and it was mostly a jab contest.
Hein looked confident in the 5th, walking into a slew of jabs from Kalambay and then landing several right hands. Kalambay fired back a huge left uppercut that snapped Hein’s head back, reminding me of the kind of uppercut that Donovan “Razor” Ruddock used to throw. Hein didn’t let it stop him, though, and landed a number of good right hands in the closing minute of the round.
In the 6th, Hein went out hard looking as if he was trying to end the fight with a crowd-pleasing knockout. It was the wrong thing to do against a fighter with as much power as Kalambay, as Hein was soon after knocked down with a straight right from Kalambay while trying to hit him with a right. After the knockdown, Kalambay went after Hein and landed some powerful right hands, hitting him cleanly each time.
Hein tried to regain control over the round but continued to absorb punishment until the end of the fight. In the final seconds of the bout, Hein tried to land a right hand coming out of a clinch and was immediately put down by another right hand from Kalambay. However, for some reason, the referee ruled it a slip rather than a knockdown.