By Niall Doran
The trend of boxing upsets in recent times continued again this weekend in Germany when Robert Stieglitz made short work of the favourite Arthur Abraham to claim the WBO super middleweight title with a 4th round technical knockout.
Going into the fight I had predicted an upset in Stieglitz’s favour by decision however I was not expecting such an emphatic steam roller job by him! Stieglitz who was enjoying a bit of extra home support brought the fight to the champion right from the get go and opened a vicious looking injury on Abraham’s left eye in the 2nd round. By the end of the 3rd round the eye was so bad it was almost closed shut which prompted the referee to call halt to the action after a ringside physician inspected the damage. After this showing big fights could be in the pipeline for Stieglitz and could also have an encounter with Britain’s George Groves later in the year of early next year.
Speaking of George Groves, he was back in action for the 2nd time in only two weeks on the under card in Germany! I have to admit that one sneaked under the radar for me, I didn’t not even know it was taking place until yesterday. Even though Groves moved to Matchroom a week or so ago he was boxing on Boxnation last night which was great to see. This was a breath of fresh air for boxing if you ask me. In a time where high profile fighters do well to fight every three months or so, Groves boxed back to back inside two weeks. Granted he was boxing a man he was expected to beat in Baker Barakat, he still took care of business in cool fashion, stopping Barakat in the second round with some big right hands to boot. Groves returns to action next on the under card of Froch vs Kessler on May 25th.
Moving to Mexico middleweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio had a good win with a twelve round decision over Marcus Upshaw in front of 5000 passionate Mexican fans. With this win Rubio now moves into position with the WBC as a mandatory challenger for their title and more than likely will get the winner of Sergio Martinez v Martin Murray which takes place in Argentina on April 27th.
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