By Niall Doran
On Friday night in Dussledorf Germany, 39 year old Ozzie Sam Soliman really upset the apple cart when he scored a unanimous decision victory over the home favourite Felix Sturm. In the early stages of the bout this result certainly didn’t look to be on the cards with Sturm dominating the early action and dropping Soliman with a crunching right hand in the second round.
After weathering the storm from round 3 onwards it was all Soliman who seemed to take control of the fight. He really took charge and was able to get off good flurries all throughout the fight with Sturm unable to replicate his early success. The upset was likened to that off a Rocky Balboa moment and credit to Sam Soliman who showed that book maker’s odds sometimes don’t mean anything. Next up for him should be a shot at Daniel Geale as his fight with Sturm was an IBF eliminator.
Staying in Germany in Berlin on Saturday night Jurgen Brahmer squared off against the very tough Eduard Gutnecht for a right to fight Light Heavyweight WBO champion Nathan Cleverly. In a fight that could have gone either way Brahmer got the nod from the judges in what was a very entertaining brawl.
In the early to middle rounds it was clear that Gutnecht didn’t really have the power to knock Brahmer out with one punch as he was landing stinging left and right hooks with little effect on Brahmer. In the middle rounds Brahmer used his left hook to the body to good effect to keep Gutnecht off who was beginning to head hunt a little. In the ninth round Gutnecht was deducted a point for pushing which he may have felt a little aggrieved by considering Brahmer kept ducking low. Towards the end of the bout Gutnecht looked to be getting to Brahmer finally and looked as if he possibly might stop him. This wasn’t to be however and both fighters ended the fight very scrappily with Gutnecht looking to be landing the more effective punches. He certainly will have felt he should have got the decision. One thing is for sure Nathan Cleverly will hardly be quaking in his boots based on that performance by Brahmer who looked visibly older as a fighter, more so than his recent fights, perhaps father time could be catching up.
In Las Vegas Saturday night undefeated Lightweight contender Mickey Bey won in impressive fashion with a 3rd round KO over Robert Rodriguez. Bey (19-0-1, 10KOs) is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and trained by Floyd Mayweather Senior. It’s understood that with a couple more wins he could be close to a world title shot and is targeting the likes of Ricky Burns and Vasquez.
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