(Photo credit: Team Sauerland) By Allan Fox: #9 WBO Nikola Sjekloca (26-1, 8 KO’s) expects to beat newly crowned WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (39-4, 28 KO’s) in their fight in a month from now on May 3rd at The Velodrom, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany. This is an optional title defense for the 34-year-old Abraham, so he’s not surprisingly selected a guy that he feels he can beat in the light hitting 35-year-old Sjekloca, who recently lost to Sakio Bika by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision a year ago in February.
Abraham defeated Robert Stieglitz by a close 12 round split decision last March to win the WBO 168lb title. This was the third fight between Abraham and Stieglitz in the last two years, and sadly it’s probably not going to be the last fight between them. Both are German based fighters, and they’ve been able to keep fighting each other due to the generous ranking that the WBO has given them. It’s very likely that Abraham will face Stieglitz in a fourth fight either in late 2014 or early 2015 if Abraham doesn’t get beaten before then.
“I am going to dethrone the ‘King’ Arthur and take his title away,” Sjekloca said. “Last year, I had a competitive fight against Sakio Bika, who went on to win the WBC Belt. Now I want to win the WBO Title and unify against Bika in a rematch. I do not underestimate Abraham as I am following his career since he had his first world championship fight. I studied his style in detail and know how to beat him.”
Sjekloca is a decent fighter, but he’s only faced one good opponent during his entire 7-year pro career and he lost to that fighter in losing a decision to Bika. Abraham should be able to defeat Sjekloca without any problems as long as he remembers to throw enough punches. Sjekloca has a size advantage over him, and if Abraham lets him, he’s going to try and beat him by jabbing all night. Abraham is going to need to take the fight to Sjekloca to keep from getting outpointed from the outside.
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