By Erik Schmidt: World Boxing Association middleweight champion Felix Sturm came out on the attack in today’s Universum press release, saying he doesn’t see IBF middleweight champion as a competitor and not a class boxer like himself. Sturm also fired back at Abraham, who had said recently that he would fight Sturm for free, telling him to sign the contract if he wants to fight for free.
Arthur Abraham
Abraham vs. Pavlik In 2009? – Latest Boxing News
By Chris Thomas: With few other potentially interesting opponents left to fight in the middleweight division, World Boxing Council/World Boxing Organization (WBC/WBO) middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (34-1, 30 KOs) may be looking at a unification bout with IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (28-0, 23 KOs) in 2009.
According to the latest boxing gossip, Abraham’s promoter, Wilfried Sauerland, is looking to line up Abraham with a fight against Pavlik in 2009.
Abraham Stops Marquez
Abraham, 28, blasted an overwhelmed Marquez with a series of hard punches in the 6th round, leading to Marquez’s corner stopping the fight in between rounds due to a cut on the side of Marquez’s right eye. Abraham had fought cautiously for the first five rounds, but in the 6th he opened up with a flurry of hard punches to the head of Marquez, battering him throughout the round. It looked as if Abraham was just getting warmed up and was prepared to give Marquez more of the same if he had come out for the 7th round.
However, rather than continue fighting, Marquez’s corner stopped the fight after the 6th round, giving Abraham a relatively easy title defense.
Haye-Barrett, Calzaghe-Jones, Abraham-Marquez, Tecate – Latest Boxing News
David Haye’s next opponent Monte Barrett is backing Joe Calzaghe to triumph over Roy Jones Junior. The pair clash this Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Speaking to Setanta Sports News Barrett tipped Calzaghe to succeed.
Latest Boxing News: Conception, Marquez-Abraham, Bika-Manfredo, Bernstein
PANAMA CITY, PANAMA – 29th October 2008. It was announced today by Optimum Sports Agency that Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion will make his ring return November 26th in Panama. The bout will be promoted by Rogelio Espino of Promociones y Eventos Del Istmo and it will take place at the Centro de Convenciones Atlapa, Panama City, Panama.
Raul Marquez: “I’m going to shock the boxing world,” Arreola, Harris, Narvaez, Wright, Abraham, More – Latest Boxing News
HOBOKEN, N.J. (October 27, 2008) – International Boxing Federation top contender and mandatory challenger, former U.S. Olympian and IBF light middleweight title-holder Raul “El Diamente” Marquez, says he will shock the boxing world November 8 when he fights unbeaten IBF middleweight champion “King” Arthur Abraham at Jako Arena in Bamberg, Germany.
Abraham Postpones Bout With Marquez Due To Illness
By Erik Schmidt: In a bit of bad news for boxing fans, IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (27-0, 22 KOs) was forced to postpone his mandatory title defense against contender Raul Marquez due to a bad flue that Abraham recently contracted. The fight, Abraham’s 8th title defense of his IBF belt, was supposed to have taken place at the Jako-Arena, Bamberg, in Bayern, Germany, tonight. Instead, however, the bout will be rescheduled for a month from now on November 8th, at which time Abraham hopefully will be fully recovered from his nasty case of flu bug. Along with Abraham’s cancellation, the entire card will also be postponed until November 8th, as it would probably be difficult to attract boxing fans without the presence of a big star like Abraham at the head of the bill.
Abraham, 28, is coming off a fine 4-round TKO over Edison Miranda in June, a bout that may have been the absolute finest of Abraham’s career. Miranda, maybe the hardest puncher in the both the middleweight and super middleweight divisions, fought well up until the final seconds of the third round when Abraham staggered him with a two powerful right hands. Miranda, luckily, made it through the remainder of the round as Abraham fought cautiously and didn’t go after him and try to finish him off.
Abraham-Marquez: Look for Raul’s Face To Be Cut to Pieces
By David Lar: Undefeated middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (27-0, 22 KOs) will be defending his title on Saturday night against American Raul Marquez (41-3-1, 29 KOs) at the Jako-Arena, Bamberg, in Bayern, Germany. Abraham, 28, is probably at the top of his game right now, coming off an impressive four-round TKO of Edison Miranda in June. So far, Abraham has more or less easily defended his IBF title seven times since winning it in December 2005 with a 5th round stoppage over Kingsley Ikeke. Except for his first fight with Miranda in September 2006, in which Abraham suffered a broken jaw and had to struggle to get a controversial 12-round decision, he’s breezed through the rest of his opponents during the time that he’s held the IBF belt.
Most of his opposition, however, has been badly over-matched and has fared poorly against the hard-punching fighter from Armenia. This will unfortunately probably be the case on Saturday as well, when Abraham defends his title against the 37 year-old Marquez.
Abraham Destroys Miranda, Is Pavlik Next?
By Michael Lieberman: I hate to say I told you so, because it pains me to gloat when I’m right but I predicted this outcome, although I was off by two rounds in my prediction. Instead of Edison Miranda (30-3, 26 KOs) being knocked out in the 6th round, as I previously predicted, he only lasted four rounds against Arthur Abraham (27-0, 22 KOs), in a fight that was mostly going Miranda’s way up until the 4th round, when Abraham suddenly dropped Miranda with a right hand. Abraham would later drop Miranda two more times, at which point referee Telis Assimenios stopped the bout at 1:13 of the 4th round.
It’s hard to say what happened to the 27 year-old Miranda. He was fighting well in the first three rounds, keeping Abraham, 28, under constant pressure, hitting him with big shots and mostly not getting hit with anything significant. In a way, it was a like the first three rounds of their first fight in September 2006, in which Abraham covered up continuously on along the ropes, and fighting a kind of primitive rope-a-dope. In this case, however, Abraham was blocking little and getting hit with a lot of shots from Miranda full force to the head and body. In the first round, Miranda was warned for throwing a low blow, and thankfully the referee didn’t penalize Miranda. In the second round, Miranda landed another low blow, a hard right hand that landed well low, causing Abraham to crouch down and wince in pain.
Miranda-Abraham: Look For Arthur To Win By KO
By Michael Lieberman: I personally can’t stand either one of these guys. Neither of them are all that good, especially the annoying chatterbox Edison Miranda (30-2, 26 KOs) who talks as if he’s the king crap of the super middleweight division, when in all probability, he may never rise above being one of the middle of the rode contenders. As for IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (26-0, 21 KOs), this guy seems to have been totally protected his entire career up until the point that his management finally let him take a risky opponent in Miranda.
Things didn’t go too well in their previous fight two years ago, as you can see, with Abraham getting his jaw broken badly, swallowing a ton of blood, taking a vicious beating and seeming to be saved by both the referee (who penalized Miranda early and often) and the judges, who in their good hears rewarded Abraham for staying in the fight with a broken jaw by giving him what appeared to be a very questionable unanimous decision victory.