By Erik Schmidt: Russian heavyweight Denis Bakhtov (30-5, 19 KO’s) scored a shocking 1st round knockout over big 6’5” Steffen Kretschmann (13-1, 12 KO’s) on Fruday night at the Hermann-Neuberger-Halle, in Saarland, Germany. Kretschmann, 29, was dropped by a big hand from Bakhtov late in the 1st round. After getting up, Kretschmann staggered briefly causing referee Ernst Salzgeber to stop the action at 2:34 of the 1st round.
Kretschmann had been staggered earlier in the round after getting hit with a right hand from Bakhtov that caused Kretschmann’s ankle to buckle under him. The referee thought that Kretschmann had slipped and pulled Bakhtov off of him near the ropes.
Bakhtov knew that Kretschmann was hurt and was trying to finish him off with some more power shots, but the referee stopped the action briefly and let Kretschmann get a small reprieve before the action started once again. The right hand from Bakhtov landed over Kretschmann’s right glove, hitting him high on the top of the head and staggering him instantly.
After the action resumed, Kretschmann looked as if he were okay again and immediately fired off a nice jab and a left to the body of Bakhtov and then another hard jab. However, Bakhtov was still eager to test Kretschmann’s chin and immediately pushed the big German back against the ropes and fired right to the body and then two big rights to the head that sent Kretschmann down on the canvas.
It was clear that Kretschmann was badly hurt because when he fell, he didn’t use his hands to break his fall and ended up with his head partially hitting the canvas. He got up slowly from the knockdown and then staggered slightly as the referee asked him to walk to him.
At that point the referee decided to stop the fight much to the surprise of Kretschmann. Bakhtov then walked around the ring looking embarrassed at the quick stoppage as if he wished that the fight had gone on a little while longer.
However, it was a good stoppage because Kretschmann was badly hurt and would have been chopped down once again had the referee allowed the fight to continue for much longer. The loss is a big disappointment for Kretschmann, who was on the verge of breaking into the top tier in the heavyweight division.
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Hard-hitting heavyweight prospect Yakup Saglam (20-0, 17 KO’s) defeated the huge 6’7” Canadian Raymond Olubowale (8-4-1, 5 KO’s) by a six-round unanimous decision on the undercard. The final judges’ scores were 60-53, 59-55 and 59-54, all for the 32-year-old Saglam.
At 6’4” 224 pound, Saglam looked small compared to the 279 pound Olubowale and had big problems just trying to get past his jab. Olubowale fended Saglam off with his jab alone in the first five rounds, and appeared to win each of them in my scorecard.
Olubowale, 39, was cut over his left eye in the 5th round, and there was blood all over the place in the 6th and final round. Saglam took advantage of the cut to apply a lot of pressure against Olubowale and hit him with some big shots in the final three minutes of action. It was pretty sloppy fighting between both of them, but Saglam clearly won the final round with his big shots.