Arena Boxing: German Heavyweight Prospect Konstantin Airich Breaks Hand, Loses To Danny Williams In Spain

ByBoxing Press

After a dramatic ring battle in Bilbao, Spain, German interim heavyweight champion Konstantin Airich showed a great fight against odds-on favourite Danny Williams but he couldn’t beat the British titleholder in front of 2,000 Spanish fans at the Pabellon deportivo Asesarre.

Although he broke his left hand by dropping Danny Williams in round three for the second time, Airich kept on fighting and floored the “Brixton Bomber” again in the fourth.

“I was in awful pain”, states Airich. “I couldn’t use my left hand anymore, had to do everything with the right.”

Williams was repeatedly warned by referee Alfredo Garcia for throwing low-blows in rounds two and five. Due to the point deductions and knockdowns, Williams would have had no chance to win a decision. So he wildly attacked Airich and dropped the 29-year-old German twice in rounds five and six.

When Williams started battering Airich again in the seventh, it was promoter Ahmet Öner who threw in the towel to protect his fighter from more punishment and a possible hard knockout. It was Konstantin Airich’s first loss in 11 pro-fights.

“I’m glad I won the fight”, stated Williams, who kneeled down and kissed the ring mat after his victory. “It was a real war. I had heard before that Konstantin is a hard puncher but I was really shocked when he hit me in the first couple of rounds. This boy has fists of stone. I think the referee did a bad job and I didn’t want that to be decisive in the fight. So in the end, I did what I had to do to finish him off.”

Right after his seventh round TKO loss, Airich was immediately brought to hospital where the broken hand was diagnosed. Airich will undergo surgery, most likely this Monday in Hamburg .

“I hope, Konstantin recovers fast”, states promoter Ahmet Öner. “He showed a great fight and send a signal to all European heavyweights. He will be back and he will be even stronger.”

In the co-main event, former WBO heavyweight champion Herbie Hide defended his WBC international cruiserweight title against Benin born challenger Ehinomen Ehikhamenor from New York.

Although “Hino” was stronger than expected, the “Dancing Destroyer” dropped his opponent once in the fourth round and had no serious problems taking home a clear unanimous decision, 118-109, 117-110 and118-109.

Middleweight prospect Mahir Oral scored a unanimous decision victory as well although his fight for the EBA interim championship against stable-mate Alexander Sipos was pretty close. Sipos dominated the first rounds before Mahir could take control. The judges scored the bout
115-113, 115-114, 116-113 in favour of the “Lion”.

Rising light welterweight star Sergej Sorokin from Russia scored his 28th win in his 30th pro-fight (1 draw) by split decision against Argentinian veteran Juan Carlos Villareal who dropped to 39-9-1. Sorokin will face Randall Bailey in his next fight on July 4 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Yakup Saglam raised his record to 14-0-0 including 13 KO’s by stopping Mate Kubinyi from Greece in the first.

Middleweight contender Ruben Diaz scored a fifth round TKO over Jurijs Boreiko from Latvia while local hero Hector Moreira suffered his first loss in 21 pro-fights against Alexander Saltykov who stopped his Spanish opponent by TKO in the second.