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He is in the best shape of his life! With only four days to go until his world championship clash with IBF titlist Arthur Abraham at Berlin ’s Max-Schmeling-Halle challenger Mahir Oral is confident of dethroning “The King”.
At the public workout at Axel-Springer-Passage in Berlin “The Lion” showed a little bit of what he will have to offer this Saturday.
“I couldn’t be better prepared”, states Mahir. “No matter how the fight will end there are no excuses at all. I am ready for twelve tough rounds and I am sure that if the fight goes the distance the winner can only be Mahir Oral. I will take Arthur’s belt to Hamburg with me. I heard he wants to move up to super middleweight after this fight so he doesn’t need the title anymore anyways.
“When I heard that Arthur had already decided that this will be his last fight at 160 lbs I asked myself: ‘Doesn’t this guy want a rematch?’ Other than Arthur I have no problems with the weight at all. I am almost in the limit already.”
Promoter Ahmet Öner is expecting a tough fight: “Abraham probably thinks it will be a walk in the park. But I know Mahir. He already surprised me twice – for instance when he beat Domenico Spada in Hamburg, who is currently ranked #1 by the WBC.
“Why shouldn’t Mahir be able to pull the upset? But, of course, we all know that it will be hard for him as Arthur is the best and strongest middleweight in the world today.”
Says Mahir’s trainer Hans-Jürgen Witte: “We know that Mahir is going into this fight as the underdog. But I have seen lots of underdogs actually beating the kings in my life. We will just wait for Saturday and see what happens in the ring.”
The IBF middleweight championship bout will be broadcasted live in Germany on ARD and in the US on Showtime.
