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It was awkward. It was ugly. It was hard to watch but after 12 rounds at the Getec Arena in Magdeburg, Arthur Abraham had his hand raised in a third fight with top domestic rival Robert Stieglitz, winning the WBO super middle title.
The pair had clashed on two previous occasions with Abraham taking away the WBO belt from Stieglitz by decision in 2012 before Stieglitz got the title back in 2013 with a fourth round stoppage.
Once the bell rang in Magedeburg, Stieglitz appeared to be possessed, rushing Abraham in wild, rageful manner that was strange in both its intensity and duration.
To call the approach of Stieglitz amateurish would be an insult to the unpaid ranks. Only the gloves and trunks of the champion distinguished him from that of an incensed barroom brawler.
Round after round, Stieglitz carried on, rarely landing the wild haymakers he threw, colliding instead with Abraham countless times, resulting in odd, high impact tangles that resembled two men playing the old game of Twister.
By the end of the bout, the welts on Abraham’s neck, shoulders and back were evidence of the mauling he received and it’s curious as to why Stieglitz only had one point taken away by referee Genaro Rodriguez, who also took away a point from Abraham when the challenger began to retaliate with tactics that fell outside the Queensberry Rules.
While Stieglitz did land some of his shots, Abraham was more effective, getting space at times to box and connect with pot-shotting hooks and right hands, although many of his efforts missed wildly as well.
By the last round, both men were exhausted from the constant wrestling but Abraham had more in the tank and began to punish the flatfooted Stieglitz, who had to take a knee in the waning moments and was perhaps saved by Rodriguez, who took a long time before letting the fighters resume after the knockdown.
And suddenly, the bell rang and the contest was mercifully over.
The scorecards were split, with Stieglitz gaining one at 113-112 while Abraham captured two at 115-110 and 114-111.
Abraham improves to 39-4 (28) while Stieglitz drops to 46-4 (26).
Ideally, there will not be a fourth fight.
On the undercard, WBO/WBF middleweight champion Christina Hammer, 17-0 (8), won a unanimous decision in a title defense over welterweight Jessica Balogun, 23-3 (11), on scores of 100-90 on all three cards.
