By Per Ake Persson
The rivalry is over, as Arthur Abraham (43-4, 29KOs) retained his WBO super middleweight world title when he scored a sixth round stoppage win over Robert Stieglitz (47-6-1, 27KOs) in their fourth meeting.
Stieglitz suffered a flash knockdown in the fourth round, but then he ate a huge shot in the sixth and went down. He beat the count, but his trainer threw in the towel.
Abraham suffered a busted nose in round four and it gave him problems - but at the same time the challenger was second best throughout despite a high workrate and he kept missing with his big punches.
When Abraham came out fast in the sixth Stieglitz had no answer and was caught by hard punches from both hands and when he tried to fire back he took a hard right hand to the chin and went down. Trainer Dirk Dzemski, a compassionate man, waved with the towel and referee Earl Brown called it off. It was a correct decision and the way Stieglitz was missing with his power punches indicates that his career is over - at least at this level.
They first fought in August 2012, with Abraham winning the WBO title with a twelve round unanimous decision. Stieglitz got revenge in March of 2013, by stopped Abraham in four rounds due to an eye injury. The met for a third time a year later, with Abraham scoring a twelve round knockdown to clinch a twelve round split decision and reclaim the WBO crown.
Vincent Feigenbutz (20-1, 19KOs) came a step closer to a world title shot when he stopped Mauricio Reynoso (15-2) in the third round to capture the interim-WBA super middleweight championship. Reynoso was having his second fight since 2012 and how he got in the WBA ratings is a good question but he was there and the hard punching Feigenbutz took him out with a big right hook. Reynoso was down on his pants and appeared to sit the count out.
Cruiserweight Noel Gevor (18-0) outscored Polish journeyman Lukasz Rusiewicz (20-21) over eight and dominated the fight with his straight punches. Rusiewicz is very durable and knows how to survive and did so here.
Middleweight Mike Keta (19-3) stopped Alilych Kanbolatov (12-3) 2.59 into the third of a scheduled ten rounder. Keta dominated the fight with his crude but effective style and Kanbolatov couldn´t keep him away. Kanbolatov was caught by a big overhand right late in the third, went down and it was stopped.
British super middleweight contender Anthony Ogogo (8-0) finally returned from an injury layoff and won a six round unanimous decision over Ruslan Schelev (11-4).
Super middleweight Stefan Haertel (6-0, zero inside the distance wins) won a unanimous decision over six over Frenchman Maurice Possiti (10-7). Haertel is good but lacks punching power.
Light heavyweight contender Enrico Koelling moved to 18-1 with a unanimous decision after eight rounds of boxing over Ukrainan Vasyl Kondor (18-15-1). Koelling kept a fast pace and worked hard but couldn´t hurt his experienced opponent.
In the show opener of this Sauerland Event gala at the Gerry Weber, 16-year old super middleweight prospect Leon Bauer (2-0) stopped Misa Nikolic (20-35-2) in the second of a scheduled four rounder.