Arthur Abraham defends IBF title
16.03.2009 16:08 GMT+04:00

PanARMENIAN.Net/ Arthur Abraham retained his IBF middleweight title
with a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Lajuan Simon on
Saturday.

Abraham pounded Simon, who finished with a swollen left eye, but could
not land a knockout punch. Simon moved well and took a lot of
punches, but his counter punches were few and never really troubled
the champion, who defended the title for the ninth time and improved
to 29-0.

The judges scored it 117-110, 118-109 and 117-110 for Abraham, a
naturalized German who was born in Armenia. "I am pleased with my
performance tonight," Abraham said. "He was not a bad opponent and he
took a lot and he fought bravely. It was important to win." He was
hoping for a unification bout against Kelly Pavlik, who holds the WBO
and WBC belts. "After that I will move into the super-middleweight
division," Abraham said. He traditionally has trouble making the
weight limit in the middleweight division and 15 pounds in 10 days
before the fight. Simon lost for the first time in 25 fights. He also
has two draws. "He was stronger than I thought, it was an interesting
experience. I will be back," bostonherald.com cited Simon as saying.