Erdei, Dzinziruk Keep WBO Boxing Titles In Germany

Last night at the Freiberger Arena in Dresden, Germany, WBO Light Heavyweight Champion Zsolt Erdei put on a boxing clinic against challenger DeAndrey Abron, posting a wide points decision over the ambitious American and WBO Light Middle boss Sergiy Dzinziruk managed a hard fought majority decision over Lukas Konecny after twelve rounds.

Erdei, 29-0 (17), needed a rebuilding fight after almost losing his belt to Tito Mendoza last November and got exactly as he patiently dodged the big punching efforts of Abron and picked off his fellow competitor with stinging counters all night long.

It wasn’t until the twelfth and final frame that Erdei finally went after Abron, who showed a great deal of heart and toughness in weathering the heaviest shots that the champion could throw to finish the bout on his feet.

“The Firebird” of Budapest won all three scorecards by margins of 119-109, retaining his WBO belt for the tenth time and is looking for a unification bout with IBF/IBO titlist Antonio Tarver.

Dzinziruk, 35-0 (22), had a much more difficult defense and was pressured by an aggressive and busy Konecny, 36-3 (18), but used his considerable height and reach advantages well to outbox the hard working Czech.

By the time the dust settled after twelve rounds, the scorecards varied with marks of 114-114 that saw the pair evenly but also 118-110 and 115-113 for Dzinziruk that gave the 32 year old Ukrainian southpaw the victory.

In other action on the bill, Karoly Balzsay, 18-0 (13), stopped Mantas Tarvydas, 15-3 (10), to keep the WBO Intercontinental Super Middle title and Willy Blain, 19-0-1 (3), held onto that organization’s light welter intercontinental bauble by posting a majority decision over Daudy Bahari, 36-2-1 (13), and heavyweight Denis Boytsov, 20-0 (8), won an eight round unanimous decision against American Robert Hawkins, 23-11 (7).