Undefeated super middleweight contender Tyron Zeuge (19-0-1, 11 KOs) defeated WBA super middleweight champion Giovanni De Carolis (24-7-1, 12 KOs) by a 12th round TKO tonight to win the WBA 168lb title in his home country of Germany at the MBS Arena in Potsdam. A tired looking De Carolis was knocked down twice by Zeuge in the 12th.
The fight was stopped by Roberto Ramirez Jr. after the second knockdown. De Carolis tripped on the second knockdown and wasn’t hit. But he was so hurt and tired from the previous knockdown that it didn’t matter. He couldn’t stand on his own two feet without staggering. The fight was stopped at 2:41 of the 12th. Zeuge hit De Carlos with a right hand to the head while he was sliding down the ropes. It was a legal shot, because De Carolis still hadn’t been dropped yet.
De Carolis pressured the 24-year-old Zeuge though the first nine rounds by staying close, and hammering him to the body and head. Zeuge, not accustomed to fighting on the inside, had problems with the harder shots that he was getting hit with. Zeuge kept throwing shots, but he was missing most of the time. When Zeuge did land, he lacked the power on his shots to hurt De Carolis or get his attention.
By the 10th round, De Carolis started to look tired. It seemed that the fast pace that he’d set in the fight got to him, and he didn’t have the gas that he had in the previous rounds. Zeuge wasn’t hitting De Carolis all that often for him to wilt in that manner. It just looked like a conditioning issue. De Carolis didn’t appear to be ready for a fast pace fight like he had in his previous fight against Zeuge last Summer.
This was the second time Zeuge and De Carolis fought each other. The last time they fought was earlier this year in a fight that was scored a draw. De Carolis looked like the better fighter, but he was unable to convince the three judges that he’d done enough. Two of them scored it a draw while the third had Zeuge winning despite the fact that he’d been injured for half the fight with an arm problem.
It should be interesting to see where Zeuge goes for his first defense of his WBA title. Does he fight De Carolis for a third time or does he look to defend his title against a German fighter? Zeuge does not look solid enough to beat some of the better fighters in the WBA’s rankings like George Groves, Fedor Chudinov, David Benavidez, and Anthony Dirrell. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see Zeuge fighting German Vincent Feigenbutz soon. That would seem like a now brainer. The German boxing fans would enjoy seeing this fight, and it’s a fight that would be winnable for Zeuge. He can probably beat Feigenbutz, but it’s doubtful that he’d beat Groves, Chudinov, Benavidez or Dirrell. Those guys would have the punching power to take the German crowd out of the equation, and they would make sure the fight didn’t go to the scorecards.
Other boxing results on the card:
Deniz Ilbay KO2 Anzor Gamgebeli
Stefan Haertel UD 10 Adasat Rodriguez
Artur Mann TKO 5 Adam Gadajew
Patrick Wojcicki UD 6 Frane Radnic
Arman Torosyan KO 3 Attila Koros
Burak Sahin UD 8 Ferenc Zsalek
Kai Robin Havnaa KO 1 Ihar Karavaeu