27.05.07 – King Arthur celebrated a spectacular return to the ring as he destroyed Sebastien Demers in just three rounds. The IBF middleweight champion (23-0, 18 KOs) crowned a furious series of hard punches with a big right to the head that sent his opponent down. Demers scrambled back to his feet but the referee waved the bout off. “That was a sensational performance by Arthur,” manager Wilfried Sauerland lauded. “He is without a doubt the best German boxer and he will clean up the middleweight division.”
Fighting for the first time since his legendary victory over Edison Miranda, Abraham looked like he had never been away.
The 22 screws and two titanium plates in his jaw would not bother him at all – neither mentally nor physically. “It felt great to be back,” the champion vowed. “I was good to fight and win again. I did not even think about my jaw. There were no problems in sparring, so there could not be any problems in the fight. Training is usually ten times harder than the fight. That was the case again today.”
Abraham´s exciting performance pleased the sell-out crowd of 6,000 fans in his hometown of Bamberg. “It was very special to get back here,” he said. “I saw so many familiar faces and the atmosphere was great.”
Coach Ulli Wegner praised his star fighter for an exciting performance and claimed there were even bigger things ahead for him. “He is making great progress and is slowly but surely becoming the fighter I want him to be. We will work hard on his goal to be super champion one day.” Demers (20-1, 9 KOs) would agree that Abraham has a golden future ahead. “I knew before that he was a great champion and I noticed it again in the ring. He is very strong and punches very hard. He caught me with a big right. Still it was a good experience for me to come here and fight the world champion.”
Abraham´s victory spelled the highlight of a successful evening for Sauerland Event. On the undercard, Marco “Captain” Huck used his incredible punching power and explosiveness to put aside Vadim Tokarev in an IBF cruiserweight eliminator. He was ahead 117-110 on two cards while the third judge called the bout a 114-114 draw. “I am ready for a world title fight,” the 22-year-old said afterwards. “Tokarev was a strong opponent but I was stronger.”
During the entire twelve rounds, Huck (19-0, 14 KOs) cleverly stuck to his game plan. He kept his guard up and torched the Russian with explosive series to body and head. Tokarev (23-1, 16 KOs) was fortunate to survive the final round following another furious assault. “I was very impressed by his performance,” Wilfried Sauerland stated. “Given that he is just 22 years of age and that he has just been boxing for two-and-a-half years, this was a superb showing. There will be great things ahead for him.” Huck´s next fight will be against newly-crowned IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham who defeated Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in Poland.
Also on the undercard, heavyweight hopeful Alexander Povetkin (12-0, 10 KOs) stormed to his twelfth victory in as many fights as he stopped Canada´s Patrice L´Heureux (20-4, 12 KOs) inside just two rounds. The 2004 Olympic gold medal winner knocked his opponent down with a barrage of well-placed power shots for the referee to wave the one-sided issue off.