Arthur Abraham beats Robert Stieglitz to retain WBO super-middleweight title

Arthur Abraham beats Robert Stieglitz to retain WBO super-middleweight title

Skysports – Arthur Abraham brought his Robert Stieglitz saga to an end with a sixth-round stoppage on Saturday.

The WBO super-middleweight champion had already fought his Russian rival three times in the last three years and was 2-1 ahead.

A loss would have set up a fifth and final decider, but Abraham – making his seventh world title defence – made no mistakes in a typically powerful performance in the Gerry Weber Stadium, Halle, Germany.

 ‘King Arthur’ had put Stieglitz down in the second round thanks to a ramrod jab and a slip, and showed all his power by dominating the following rounds before finishing it in the sixth.

 Two hard rights landed at the start of the round and within seconds, Abraham was on him and a third, an even harder straight right, left Stieglitz face down.

 He made it up before the count of 10 and although the referee let the fight go on, the Russian’s team were waving, if not throwing in, the white towel, forcing referee Earl Brown to call it off.

 Abraham, beaten by Carl Froch back in 2010 and beat Paul Smith in back-to-back fights in the last eight months, took his record to 43-4-KO24.

 Another British boxer, middleweight prospect Anthony Ogogo, took his record to 8-0 although he injured his right shoulder in the latter stages of his six-rounder.

 The Olympic bronze medallist had been out of the ring for almost a year but looked sharp and caught Ruslan Schelev regularly, only for another injury to come to the fore.