Interview with Abrahams trainer,Ulli Wegner !

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Famed German trainer Ulli Wegner knows what it is to train great champions. Before training current IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham, he trained longtime unified super middleweight great Sven Ottke who retired at 34-0 with 21 successful title defenses as well as three-time WBC super middleweight champion Markus Beyer (35-3-1),
"I have had many good fighters and Arthur is exceptional, but the best one was Ottke," Wegner told Fightnews. "The difference is Arthur is just in the beginning of his career, and the other fighters had their big fights later in their career. We expect more big fights from Arthur and the biggest target at the moment is to fight Pavlik for all the titles."

While, Ottke and Beyer weren't known as huge punchers, Wegner says Abraham can really pack a whallop. "He's a very good puncher," said Wegner, "he's punching as hard as a heavyweight. Everytime we do pad work I'm surprised by how hard he's punching and he's proved many times in his fights that he's a real good puncher."
Wegner, however, isn't always pleased with Abraham's tendency to cover-up at times and allow his opponent to unload, a particularly dangerous tactic against a murderous puncher like Edison Miranda, whom Abraham faces on Saturday night.
"From time to time it's disturbing that he's always relying on his defense and punching at the end of the round, but this has always been successful for him. Muhammad Ali was very successful with that strategy, but we will show some new things for the next fight."
As for a prediction, Wegner offered, "We have to wait to see how the fight will go, but in any case it'll be a knockout for Arthur Abraham."
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Wegner, one of the great amateur trainers with decades of success before being lured to the pro ranks after the 1996 Olympics, also commented on the state of the amateur game. "There is still lots of new talent coming into the game, but I don't see too much big talent coming from the United States. It's more in Europe especially in Eastern Europe, like Russia."

In addition to Abraham, Wegner will be in the corner of "First Lady" Cecilia Braekhus (7-0), who will face Mariem Brakache (5-6-1) in the first women's fight ever at the Hard Rock. "I was against women's boxing for many years," he revealed. "But Cecilia Braekus persuaded me to take her on the team. She is a hard training lady and generally I think we can't go against this anymore because ladies have taken over all branches of life. They have taken over in business, as well. The situation is a general trend and we cannot do anything against it anymore."






source fightnews.com