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Arthur Abraham of Armenia won the vacant IBF middleweight belt when he stopped Nigeria’s Kingsley Ikeke in the fifth round in Leipzig on Saturday night.
Abraham, now 19-0 (17 stoppages), is based in Germany. He was in control from the first bell as he picked off the 1,93m tall Ikeke, whose record now stands at 23-2 (13).
Early in the fifth round Abraham stunned Ikeke with a series of combinations before a big left hook left him on the verge of collapsing. Referee Samuel Viruet stepped in at 1 minute 36 seconds to call the fight off.
In other action, former WBO heavyweight champion Henry Akinwande, 48-2-1, scored a 12-round points decision over Ed Mahone, 23-5-2, and European heavyweight contender Timo Hoffman, 33-4-1, stopped Tim Williamson, 15-2, in the fifth.
Featherweight Bernard Dunne, 18-0, knocked out Marian Leondraliu, 13-15, in the sixth round and light heavy Kai Kurzawa, 21-1, stopped Tyler Hughes, 24-18-2, in seven.
In Okinawa, Japan, Venezuela's former WBA junior featherweight champion Antonio Cermeno, 45-6 (32), fought at junior lightweight and lost a close six-round decision to Koseki Nakama, 7-0 (2).
In a junior bantamweight contest, Panama's former WBA junior flyweight champion Carlos Murillo, 38-10-1 (29), was stopped in the first round by Japan’s Goh Onaga, 7-0 (5).
In the main event, junior lightweight Ryu Miyagi, 13-1-2 (11), dropped Korean Dongkook Lee, 7-7-1 (6), three times in the first round before the referee called the fight off.
Snippets
It has been reported that Garry Delaney, who lost to Sebastiaan Rothmann in March 2002 when challenging for the WBU cruiserweight belt, has been charged with murder. He is on remand in Pentonvile Prison after pleading not guilty.
Former WBO middleweight and super middleweight belt holder Chris Eubank has been declared bankrupt in the High Court in London.
Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a former middleweight contender and the man who spent 20 years in jail for a crime he did not commit, recently met up with former British middleweight Harry Scott, 40 years after their two epic battles.
Carter was a guest of the West Midlands Ex-Boxers Association. He also visited Cardiff and in both instances spoke in packed halls about his time in prison and the film featuring Denzil Washington.
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