Abraham defends his belt Saturday
Arthur Abraham (25-0, 20 KO’s) will defend his IBF middleweight championship on Saturday against Elvin Ayala (18-2-1, 8 KO’s) in Germany. The pressure is on “King” Arthur who is not only risking his title, but also a potential lucrative fight in the USA if he fails to impress. The Armenian born German recently lost two major opportunities to cash in when popular Irish prospects John Duddy and Andy Lee were injured and disappointed in their latest fights.
The mega fight that Abraham so desperately wants is Kelly Pavlik. Pavlik, (like Abraham) is facing a mandatory opponent before taking on a big Pay Per View fight this summer. If Abraham does not annilihate Ayala, he will be relegated back to take on top European fighters and will lose his chance at a big name opponent like “Winky” Wright.
Ayala on paper does not seem to pose as much of a threat. The American has two losses to “Contender” participant David Banks. Banks was recently thrashed by Edison Miranda who Abraham has beaten. I expect Arthur to win this fight in a mid round stoppage . If the champ comes in fully focused we could see an early and brutal KO.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:59 am
Ok so Abraham beats Ayala then he gets Winky then Pavlik? Is that his flow to greatness? Is this fight on TV somewhere?
April 10th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Abraham is high level. He’s so good that nobody is calling him out. Instead Abraham is playing the role of “terminator” on a search and destroy mission. The German is not only knocking opponents out…..he’s literally knocking their heads off! (Including Ayala’s in the 12′th round).
The middleweight division is loaded with talent. The problem is most of the fighters hail from Europe and are relatively unknown to the casual US fight fans.
To answer your question: Kelly Pavlik is the ultimate goal. Pavlik is popular and highly skilled. Pavliks high punch output matched against Abraham’s raw power would make this fight a real barn burner.