Arthur Abraham vs. Robin Krasniqi – Results

By Boxing News - 04/22/2017 - Comments

Image: Arthur Abraham vs. Robin Krasniqi – Results

By Jim Dower: Former two division world champion Arthur Abraham (46-5, 30 KOs) easily beat #3 WBO contender Robin Krasniqi (46-5, 17 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in their Word Boxing Organization super middleweight title eliminator fight on Saturday night at the Messehall in Erfurt, Germany. Abraham, 37, hurt Krasniqi in the 6th and 9th rounds with big right hands to the head.

The final judges’ scores were 118-110, 115-114 and 117-111. Boxing News 24 scored the fight 8 rounds to 3 in favor of Abraham.

Things were bad for Abraham in the first 5 rounds, as the taller 6’1” Krasniqi used his 4 inch height advantage to dominate the action. Krasniqi was using his jab and movement to get the better of Abraham in rounds 1 through 5. Things were looking bleak for Abraham going into round 6, as he was getting hit too much by the jabs and fast combinations of the 30-year-old Krasniqi. However, in the 6th, Abraham landed a big right hand that staggered Krasnqi badly. He stayed on his feet, but he started running after that to try and elude Abraham. At the same time, the German boxing crowd started to encourage Abraham by cheering him their applause.

Abraham stalked Krasniqi around the ring in round 7, nailing him with big right hands to the head. Krasniqi was literally running around the ring to keep from getting. Krasniqi looked stressed out, as if he had lost his confidence entirely. Krasnqi’s continual movement seemed to take a lot of the energy out of him. He wasn’t willing to stand and fight and that kind of wore him down.

In the 8th, Abraham dropped his gloves and motioned for Krasniqi to stop running from him, because he was sprinting around the ring and failing to trade shots with him. The boxing fans at ringside were patient with the non-action in the fight, perhaps because Abraham was getting the better of the action each time he was able to catch up to Krasniqi.

With the win, Abraham is now the mandatory challenger to WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo’ Ramirez. Abraham lost his WBO title to Ramirez last year in April in losing a one-sided 12 round unanimous. The good news about tonight’s performance by Abraham was the way that he was able to cut off the ring and get the better of a fighter that was moving at all times in Krasniqi. At least Abraham showed tonight that he could cut off the ring against a guy that was moving nonstop in Krasniqi. Ramirez will likely move a lot in the rematch with Abraham to keep from getting hit. It should be interesting to see if Abraham can catch up to Ramirez often enough to beat him in the rematch.