The Sweet Science
June 28 2009

Is He Germany’s Best Boxer? King Arthur Aces Oral

By Michael Woods

For a few rounds, things looked, if not bleak, then less than stellar
for IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham. He was fairly flat, and
his corner exhorted him to get down to business, and show aggression
against lightly regarded foe Mahir Oral at the Max Schmeling Hall in
Berlin on Saturday. It took awhile for The King to stir, and get
warmed up, but when he did, Oral was no match for Abraham’s precision
punching. The champion retained his belt with knockdowns in the fourth
and sixth, and a surgically efficient tenth, when he put Oral down
three times, forcing the loser’s corner to throw in the towel.

The end came at 1:23, via TKO, for Oral, who performed with greater
skill and guts than probably everyone expected. The win gives Abraham
another chip or two in a future if he wants to target Kelly Pavlik,
but it seems more likely he’ll head north to 168, as making 160 is a
dreadful chore for the German. Afterwards, Abraham said he will take
the big fight, whatever division makes sense, though he is leaning to
moving up. `I will fight in America, it’s my dream,’ he said.

The champ Abraham (age 29; 159 ½ pounds; from Armenia, living in
Germany) came in with a 29-0 record while `The Lion’ Oral (age 29
also; 158 ¾ pounds; of Turkish descent, lives in Germany) was
25-1-2 entering.

In the first round of his tenth title defense, `King Arthur’ held a
high guard. He’d never been down as a pro, and Oral looked to pierce
his defense with a one-at-a-time jab. The two men had sparred, five
years ago, for the record, but the King has separated himself from the
pack since then. Oral and Abe both held themselves erect, in Euro
style, in a solid first round. In the second, Oral looked to tag Abe’s
sides. Both men fought in a contained manner; no mad rushes, or psycho
flurries in this one. Oral hit with a right before the bell and it was
fair to say he’d surprised all with his effectiveness early. After the
round, the Abraham corner demanded more fire. In the third, Oral again
came out the aggressor. Was Abraham having a flat night, or would he
get cookin’?

In the fourth, Abraham did get busier. He moved in, getting in his
foe’s face, and put Oral down with 40 seconds to go, off a left hook
after a few solid rights. A long right almost did it again, and we
wondered if Oral would get out of the fifth.

In round five, Oral went down, but it was a stumble. He stood his
ground, despite being much less powerful than the champion, to his
credit. In the sixth, Abraham took the round off, for the most part.
Until the 1:02 mark, that is, when a right sent Oral down. He dipped
to his left, the champ timed it, and to the mat Oral went. In the
seventh, Oral still hung in there, looking to hit with wide tosses. In
the eighth, Oral did well to shrug off a nasty right hand. This fight
was a win for him, just in how he performed to this juncture. In the
ninth, Abraham had his way and still Oral chugged forward. In the
10th, a left hook put Oral on a knee. The ref looked hard and long at
the challenger. He took a knee after a right to the body. Again, he
rose. And again he was dropped, this time with a left hook to the
body. He was up again, but his corner threw in the towel.

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