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Tonight at the Stadthalle in Rostock, Germany, Robert Stieglitz will contend for vacant IBF Super Middleweight crown against Colombian puncher Alejandro Berrio. Former European Middleweight titlist Sebastian Sylvester puts his WBA Intercontinental belt on the line against Alessio Furlan on the undercard, which also features David Bostice, Timo Hoffman and Alexander Povetkin.
Stieglitz, 29-0 (19), has been the IBF mandatory challenger for quite some time now and gets this opportunity to finally fight for the title as Joe Calzaghe dropped the belt in order to pursue higher profile bouts. The 25 year old has already faced the man in the opposite corner tonight, Alejandro Berrio, stopping the South American in December of 2005 in the eleventh round.
Berrio, 25-4 (24), brings the reputation of being a chinny banger into the ring, having gotten stopped in all four of his losses but the man from Cartegena, Colombia has also stopped Syd Vanderpool two years ago and most recently, previously undefeated hot prospect Yusef Mack, last May.
The last time that Stieglitz and Berrio met, it was a grueling affair that Stieglitz was able to win after showing a solid chin and good stamina. The German based Russian caught up with Berrio in the eleventh round but the Colombian fighter maintained that it was a premature stoppage and has vowed to take out Stieglitz this time.
