German Abraham defends IBF title
Story from BBC SPORT:
boxing/7718197.stm
Published: 2008/11/09 01:03:19 GMT
World middleweight champion Arthur Abraham successfully defended his
IBF title with a sixth-round technical knockout over Raul Marquez.
The Armenian-born 28-year-old had been due to face Marquez in October
before flu saw the bout postponed by a month.
Abraham’s victory was the eigth defence of his title and took his
record to 28-0, with 23 knockouts.
"I had my tactics of a slow build-up and then raise the tempo, it was
too much for him," said Abraham.
He was too quick and too strong in the end
Raul Marquez
The German based fighter was the busier boxer from the first bell and
tested Marquez with a flurry of punches in the second and third rounds.
Marquez, 37, was regularly put on the back foot and after receiving
more punishment in the sixth round his corner signalled an end to
proceedings.
"For a while there I thought I was in with a good shot, but he is very
strong and kept coming at me," said Marquez.
"I tried, I tried my best and I knew it would be a hard fight, but he
was too quick and too strong in the end."
Abraham will now look to take his unbeaten record into a unification
fight with world WBA champion Felix Sturm.