In an impressive display of punching power, unbeaten #2 World Boxing Organization cruiserweight contender Oleksandr Usyk (8-0, 8 KOs) smashed his opponent #15 WBO Johnny Muller (19-5-2, 13 KOs) in knocking him down twice en route to a 3rd round TKO on Saturday night in front of a huge crowd at the Palace of Sports in Kiev, Ukraine.
Once beaten 19-year-old German knockout artist Vincent Feigenbutz (20-1, 19 KOs) made easy work of 38-year-old Mauricio Reynoso (15-2-1, 11 KOs) in destroying him in three rounds last Saturday night to capture the interim WBA World super middleweight title at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany. Feigenbutz battered Reynoso with power shots until dropping him in the 3rd round with a hard left to the body. The fight was then stopped at 1:21 of the round by referee Giuseppe Quartarone.
With this victory, Feigenbutz will next be fighting for the world title against WBA World super middleweight champion Fedor Chudinov (13-0, 10 KOs) later this year or perhaps early next year.
Abraham hurt Stieglitz with an overhand right in the opening seconds of the 6th. Stieglitz continued to press forward despite being hurt. Abraham followed up with some clubbing shots that ended with him blasting Stieglitz with a right to the head that send him down. Stieglitz got to his feet but his corner waived the towel to referee Earl Brown to have the bout stopped.
In the process of beating Sturm, Chudinov, 27, won the vacant WBA super middleweight title that was stripped from Carl Froch last Thursday.
The scores were 118-110 and 116-112 for Chudinov, and 116-112 for Sturm.
Next month’s clash between former two time World Boxing Organization super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (47-4, 27 KOs) and former IBF/WBA middleweight title holder Felix Sturm (39-4-2, 18 KOs) on November 8th will determine which of these two fighters will be getting a world title shot against WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (41-4, 28 KOs) in 2015.
Abraham will likely be fighting a needless rematch against British fighter Paul Smith next to clear up the controversy surrounding their fight last September in Germany. Abraham won that fight by a 12 round unanimous decision, but Smith and many of his boxing fans felt that he’d done enough to deserve a win or a draw. Having seen the same fight, I don’t think Smith did nearly enough to get a win in that fight.
Wlodarczyk was waiting too long to let his shots off in each round, and this enabled the much busier Drozd to win rounds based on being busier.
In the past, Wlodarczyk was able to win many of his fights simply by overpowering his busier opponents, but that didn’t work tonight. Drozd was able to take the best shots from Wlodarczyk and keep coming forward to land his own punches. Wlodarczyk was knocked down in the 8th round. Drozd did a good job of shutting Wlodarczyk down in the last half of the fight when he was trying hard to score a knockout.
Former IBF/WBA/WBO middleweight champion Felix Sturm (39-4-2, 18 KOs) and former WBO 168 pound title holder Robert Stieglitz (47-4, 27 KOs) will share the ring on November 8th at the Porsche Arena, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The fight is being talked about as being a WBO super middleweight eliminator bout. The winner would then get to face WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham. Stieglitz is no stranger to Abraham because he’s already fought him three times in the last 2 years, and if he beats Sturm, he could get a 4th fight against him.
One can only wonder how many times Abraham and Stieglitz will wind up facing each other before they both retire because a 4th fight is pretty much a given at this point.
Former two time WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (47-4, 27 KOs) will be facing former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm (39-4-2, 18 KOs) on November 8th in a WBO super middleweight title eliminator bout at the Porsche Arena, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The winner of the Stiegltiz-Sturm fight will become the WBO mandatory challenger for WBO 168lb champion Arthur Abraham. For the #1 WBO Stieglitz this potentially gives him a chance to fight Abraham for the 4th time in just 3 years.
In a fight much tougher than expected, WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (38-2-1, 27 KOs) had to battle hard to defeat the game fringe contender Mirko Larghetti (21-1, 13 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight to retain his WBO title at the Gerry Weber Stadium, Halle, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The final judges scores were 116-112, 116-112 and 118-110. The last score was ridiculous. Larghetti dominated most of the fight, and he definitely didn’t deserve to lose by an 118-110 score.
With little time remaining in the 12th, Huck hurt the 31-year-old Larghetti with a big right hand after cornering him. Huck then unloaded a flurry of shots until Larghetti hit the canvas. Larghetti was knocked down after the bell. He was knocked out, but the referee said that he was knocked out after the bell.
WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (37-2-1, 26 KOs) will be looking to tie former WBO cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson’s record for the most title defenses at 13 tonight in Huck’s fight against #12 WBO Mirko Larghetti (21-0, 13 KOs) at the Gerry Weber Stadium, Halle, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
Huck, 29, is virtually guaranteed to tie and eventually break the record because Larghetti is someone who is so far out of his league in this fight that it’s hardly even worth mentioning. Huck is clearly going to win this fight unless he suffers some kind of injury.