By Erik Schmidt: Undefeated cruiserweight prospect Alexander Frenkel (17-0, 13 KOs) was too much for Hungarian Balint Turgonyi (9-1, 3 KOs) in the 7th round tonight at the Jako arena, in Bamberg, Germany. Frenkel, 23, landed a hard left to Turgonyi’s midsection in the 7th round and then unloaded on him with a storm of punches, prompting for the referee to step in and save Turgonyi from having to take any more additional punishment.
Frenkel fought reasonably well throughout, loading up with big shots every once in awhile but not throwing a whole lot of punches. Additionally, Frenkel fought in a straight up European stance, and looked tight and robotic in every round, as if he hadn’t warmed up before the fight.
However, the biggest issue for Frenkel was his low work rate, which was far too low for cruiserweight standards. Frenkel showed good power when he was letting his hands go in rounds four though seven, but he seemed to act as if Turgonyi would fall over with every punch.
Part of that problem could be the soft opponents that have been fed to Frenkel by his German management, because Frenkel has had a lot of C and D class opponents through his first 16 fights and he’s often been able to knock them out in a couple of rounds with weak-looking shots.
Frenkel fought slowly in the 1st round, throwing pawing jabs, stalking but not letting his hands go. Frenkel threw a number of uppercuts, but was throwing them from far on the outside, allowing Turgonyi to get out of the way of them by the time the punches had travelled within landing distance.
Frenkel’s jab was one of the weakest that I’ve seen in quite some time, and he would have been better off not throwing it at all, because Turgonyi was able to take advantage of Frenkel’s painfully slow jab to counter him with right hands to the head. Frenkel’s right hand and left hook also weren’t all that powerful for a fighter as hyped as he is.
In fact, Turgonyi appeared to have the better power in both hands. The problem for Turgonyi was that he wasn’t throwing nearly enough punches to cause Frenkel any problems. It’s too bad, because Turgonyi likely would have won the round if he had even thrown a pitiful 10 more shots, because Frenkel looked positively awful in the round with all his missed punches, weak jabs and poor output.
Turgonyi landed several big right hands in the 2nd round, and was the only one that connected with any power shots. Frenkel was busy throwing his weak jab over and over again, and looking confused about how to go about attacking Turgonyi.
Frenkel continued to mostly throw jabs in the 3rd, and was well on his way to losing the round due to Turgonyi bigger shots, but Frenkel nailed himself out when he threw a flurry of shots at the end of the round to win the round.
In rounds four through six, Frenkel fought a little bit better, connecting with a few – very few – combinations in each of the rounds, and, of course, still throwing his pawing jab. Turgonyi landed the bigger shots in the rounds, but he still was plagued by his low work rate and was essentially giving the rounds away to Frenkel. At the end of the 6th, Frenkel landed a few nice right hands, which partially made up for a very a dull round by him.
In the 7th round, Frenkel caught Turgonyi with a hard right hand followed by a big left hook that staggered Turgonyi, sending him backwards to the ropes. Frenkel then followed after him, throwing a series of hard shots, missing many of them.
Turgonyi backed up to the ropes and was tagged by two chopping right hands from Frenkel, knocking Turgonyi slightly off balance as the shots drove his head downwards. The referee then decided he’d seen enough and stepped in and halted the fight.