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WBO super middle champ Robert Stieglitz defends against challenger Khoren Gevor this evening at Bordelandhalle in Magdeburg, Germany.
Stieglitz, 39-2 (23), has won eight straight appearances since losing an IBF title eliminator to Librado Andrade in 2008, but this could be the Russian’s hardest defense yet as the 29 year old has thus far retained on three occasions against opponents Enrique Ornelas, Eduard Gutknecht and Ruben Eduardo Acosta since winning the belt against Karoly Balszay in August, 2009.
Gevor, 31-5 (16), will be making his fourth run at world honors after getting stopped by IBF middleweight king Arthur Abraham in 2007, nearly dethroning WBA middleweight champ Felix Sturm in 2009 and most recently suffering a points loss to WBA super middle boss Dimitri Sartison in last July.
The 31 year old Armenian southpaw started his career at light middle and is much shorter than Stieglitz, who previously campaigned at light heavy, but has the advantage of being quicker of hand, foot and reaction time.
Stieglitz has excellent offensive skills and will need them to exact a toll upon the oncoming Gevor, who is very good at getting inside on taller opponents.
The champion’s weakness is his defense and expect the harder to hit Gevor to try and make this a slugfest at close range where he attempt to make Stieglitz miss and eat counters.
Both boxers are based in Germany but Magdeburg is Stieglitz’s home turf and thus it will be difficult for Gevor to win a decision.
Gevor will likely have the edge in motivation as this could be his last shot at a world title but he’ll probably need to stop Stieglitz in order to walk out of the arena with the WBO belt.
Alejandro Berrio and Librado Andrade have both shown that it’s possible to halt Stieglitz but Gevor doesn’t have their punching power.
Stieglitz must be in superb shape for this fight as Gevor will make him work for what will probably turn out to be 12 rounds and the later frames is where this one will be won or lost as both men tire and have to stand and trade.
