Jan 25, Stuttgart, Germany:
WBO cruiser king Marco Huck (37-3-1) retained the title with an impressive stoppage at 1.56 of the sixth round flooring challenger Firat Arslan (33-6-2) with a barrage of punches. Arslan, 42 going on 43, was hurt and standing a neutral corner with Huck unloading and referee Mark Nelson stepped in and made a timely stoppage.
Arslan looked his usual strong self in the first and made a slow start with Huck fighting off the ropes and countering. In the second and third Arslan´s steady pressure paid off and he scoring with hard left upercuts from his southpaw stance that appeared to trouble the champion. However, in the fourth Huck worked the body of Arslan and took over the fight countering well while fighting off the ropes. In the sixth Huck opened up with a long barrage of punches and Arslan´s age and limitations as a boxer showed as he´s never been able to fight on the retreat. He was hurt and went down for the first time. Arslan did well to survive and Huck had to regroup before opening up again and a second knockdown followed. The judges had 49-47 twice and 48-47 all for Huck after five.
Supermiddle Tyron Zeuge (12-0) won a unanimous decision over Georgian George Beroshvili (10-1-2) over ten to win the vacant WBO Youth title. Zeuge hurt and floored Beroshvili in the second with a left hook and the end appeared to be near but the Georgian survived the round and Zeuge faded out after that and never came close to floor his opponent again. Beroshvili covered up and kept coming with German strangely reluctant to open up. After ten it was scored 100-89 on all cards.
Italian superwelter Emanuele Blandamura (22-0) upset defending EU champion Marcos Nader (18-1-1) and won a split decision after twelve fastpaced rounds of boxing. It was scored 117-111 and 115-113 for Blandamura and 115-113 for Nader. Many rounds were difficult to score as the two worked very hard but neither had the power to hurt the other. Nader was physically stronger and carried the slightly heavier punch but Blandamura´s workrate took over the fight and he finished strongly. Still, the decision in his favour came as a surprise as effective punching is what counts in professional boxing.
Lightheavy Enrico Koelling (12-0) won the vacant WBO Youth title with an easy third round stoppage of Georgian Paata Aduashvili (a claimed 12-1-2). Aduashvili, a southpaw, went down three times in the third after left hooks to the body and referee Mickey Vann stopped it at 2-08. It was scheduled for ten. Koelling impressed with a high workrate and looked good but Aduashvili was not in his league.
British heavyweight David Price (16-2) made his debut for Sauerland and took out overmatched Hungarian Istvan Ruzsinszky (12-10-1) already 2.00 of the first of a scheduled eight-rounder. Ruzsinszky would have been a suitable opponent for Otto Wallin in a four-rounder and had little business being in the ring with Price. Istvan was a late sub for Konstantin Airich, who in turn was a replacement for Russian giant Evgeny Orlov.
Cruiser Noel Gevor (10-0), the stepson of semiretired middleweight and supermiddle contender Khoren Gevor, knocked out Italian Loris Emiliani (10-1) at 1.45 of the seventh after scoring heavy right hand followed by a double left hook to the head and body. It seemed as if the bodyshot did the most harm as Emiliani sat the count out. The Italian was also down in the second. It was scored 60-53 for Gevor after six and he showed promise.
Gevor had outside of his stepfather also former world champions Joey Gamache and Sebastian Sylvester working the corner
Swedish heavyweight hopeful Otto Wallin moved to 5-0 with a four round decision over Hungarian trialhorse Ferenc Zsalek, a late sub for Istvan Ruzsinszky, in the show opener of Sauerland Event´s big show at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Hall. The scoring referee had it 40-35 and Zsalek had a point deducted for deliberatly headbutting Wallin in round three. Zsalek, flabby and out of shape, was deadtired in the fourth and it must have been close to being stopped but somehow survived.
25.01 Results from Stuttgart
