Hometown hero Felix Sturm was the main attraction Saturday night in Cologne, Germany, when the WBA super champion defended his middleweight title against Giovanni Lorenzo from the Dominican Republic. On the undercard ARENA’s young and hungry talents impressed fans and experts in Cologne with great performances.
Simon stops Abdurakhmanov – Reigning IBF middleweight intercontinental champion Benjamin Simon (19-1) convincingly beat Magomed Abdurakhmanov (15-5) from Russia. Abdurakhmanov was a last minute replacement for Colombian Juan Camilo Novoa who couldn’t travel to Germany because of passport / visa problems..
In the second heavy-handed „Iron Ben“ Simon sent his opponent to the canvas for the first time with a nice combination. After two more knockdowns in the fourth referee Arno Pokrandt stopped the one-sided fight to save the durable Abdurakhmanov from further punishment.
„Benjamin showed a good fight“, said promoter Ahmet Öner. „He absolutely convinced me. I am looking forward to his next fights against stronger and tougher opponents.“
„It was the first time for Benjamin to fight in a big venue like this in front of almost 20,000 people“ added trainer and manager Robert Rolle. „Of course, you have to adjust to this in the first couple of rounds. But I think he did a good job. He stuck to our game plan and won convincingly.“
Teper looks strong in pro-debut
German heayvweight amateur standout Erkant Teper (146 amateur fights, 130 wins) also showed an impressive preformances by stopping ring veteran Marcel Zeller (22-8) in his pro debut. Originally Teper was scheduled to face Czech journey man Pavel Siska but promoter Ahmet Öner brought in Zeller as last minute replacement.
„Erkan doesn’t have to fight tomato cans like other fighters do who we build up“, says Öner. „He is spezial and I wanted to give him the chance to prove that from the very first fight on.“ Teper completely outclassed the durable but limited Zeller stopping the German „Highlander“ in three.
„It felt great to fight in front of so many people“, said the promising prospect after the fight. „I know that only very few fighters get the chance to fight on the big stage at their pro-debuts and I thank ARENA and Ahmet Öner for giving me this chance.
Ronert and Keta victorious as well
In further undercard action super middleweight prospect Mike Keta went the distance for the first time in his seventh pro-fight winning a one-sided unanimous decision after four rounds against Atilla Kiss (Czech Republic). 18 year old youngster Dennis Ronert scored his sixth knockout in as many pro-fights by stopping Frank Kary Roth in three.
Says Öner: „I think today we proved that there are lots of German talents who have the chance to make it to the top. Of course, they all have to improve adn gain more experience but they all showed that they are on the right way.“