Agence France Presse — English
August 18, 2007 Saturday 10:28 PM GMT
Boxing: King Arthur made to work hard in fifth defence
BERLIN, Aug 18 2007
IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham was made to work for his
eleventh-round knock-out win in Berlin on Saturday after plucky
challenger Khoren Gevor threatened to go the distance.
This was the 27-year-old Armenian-born German champion’s 19th
knock-out, and 24th win in 24 fights, as he saw off the hard-working
challenger at Berlin’s Max Schmeling Halle.
It was a strong upper-cut in the dying stages of the eleventh round
which left Armenian Gevor slumped on the canvas after the challenger
had absorbed plenty of punishment and threatened to go to the twelfth
round.
This was Abraham’s fifth defence and the champion’s next fight has
been pencilled in for America after manager Wilfried Sauerland
revealed last week he has received offers to bring his fighter
stateside.
Having won the vacant IBF middleweight title in December 2005 by
beating Kingsley Ikeke, "King Arthur" underlined his reputation as a
hard-hitter when he won a unanimous decision in September 2006
against Edison Miranda despite having his jaw broken in two places.
Abraham comfortably won his last defence against Canadian Sebastien
Demers in May this year with a third round technical knock-out, but
this was a much harder fight.
His 28-year-old challenger, a fellow Armenian who also now lives in
Germany, had an impressive record of 15 knock-outs from 29 fights he
had lost just twice, with one knock out, to Czech Republics Lukas
Konecny.
The pair recorded an identical weight and after an even first round,
Abraham took till the end of the third before he made his punches
tell.
The champion hit the canvas briefly in the fourth when he stumbled,
but while Gevor was throwing lots of punches, few were getting
through Abraham’s defence.
The champion took a heavy punch at the end of the sixth square on the
jaw, but he had caught the challenger with a flurry of punches, but
it was in the seventh that Gevor clearly weakened.
Only the bell at the end of the eighth kept him in the fight as
Abraham landed some punishing shots and although the challenger
recovered he was again in trouble at the end of the tenth round.
But it was a devastating upper cut 2 minutes and 41 seconds into the
eleventh which left Gevor slumped on his knees and sealed Abraham’s
win.