BERLIN – Germany's Arthur Abraham is the new world WBO super middleweight champion after his unanimous win over compatriot Robert Stieglitz Saturday. Abraham, 32, who defended his IBF middleweight title 10 times between 2005 and 2009, is now the world champion at the heavier weight after the judges scored the fight 116-112, 116-112, 115-113. “This is an emotional moment for me and it's hard to describe how I feel,” said Abraham. “I always wanted to be the middleweight world champion and now I am the super middleweight champion too.” Having held the title for three years, Stieglitz was well beaten with heavy bruising and cuts around both eyes at the end of the punishing title bout, while Abraham was left relatively unmarked. Abraham lived up to his ‘King Arthur' moniker and the new champion now has a record of 27 knock-outs in 35 wins and three defeats. Having labored to a points win over Piotr Wilczewski to defend his European WBO title in March, Abraham was back to the best fighting for the world title. Abraham started the stronger of the pair, but the champion twice pinned the challenger to the ropes in the second and started to exert his authority. Stieglitz raised the tempo in the third and Abraham fell clearly behind on points going into the fourth, but responded with some body-head combinations and one sharp hook left Stieglitz with swelling above his left eye. By the fifth, Stieglitz's face was marking noticeably while Abraham started to let his guard drop to lure the champion as he landed some punishing shots. Stieglitz put together some good combinations in the seventh round and kept up his impressive work-rate, despite a cut above his right eye needing the attention of the ring doctor in the 10th. Abraham raised his fists to the Berlin crowd in early celebration before the start of the 12 and finished clearly ahead on points as Stieglitz, 31, suffered the third defeat of his career in his 45th fight. Abraham is planning his next bout for Dec. 15 in Nuremberg with Australia's Daniel Geale or compatriot Felix Sturm as possible opponents. Geale, the IBF middleweight world champion, takes on Sturm, the WBA super world middleweight titleholder, in Oberhausen, west Germany, Saturday and Abraham will be eyeing the winner for a future world title bout. “We have twice made Sturm an offer (to fight Abraham), the last one was over two million euros,” said Abraham's promoter Kalle Sauerland. “He has always declined. Sturm will have watched the fight (against Stieglitz) and wondered whether he really wants to fight Arthur.”— Agencies
