With only 17 days to go before Arthur Abraham (42-4, 28 KOs) locks horns with Robert Stieglitz (47-4-1, 27 KOs) in their fourth WBO World Super Middleweight title contest, the champion and his coach Ulli Wegner, yesterday, opened the doors to their training camp at the Olympic Centre in Kienbaum, Germany.
Talking to the media in attendance, Wegner revealed his pleasure at ‘King’ Arthur’s preparations. ‘’Our training has gone better than expected,’’ said the 73 year-old coach. ‘’Arthur has even been sending cruiserweights to the canvas in sparring. Stieglitz has no hope. He knows only one tactic, and that’s just to come forward. Arthur is superior to him in every respect. That’s why I expect a clear victory on July 18. Anything else would be a disaster.’’
Wegner’s confidence is shared by Abraham who is promising a conclusive finish to his fourth encounter with Stielglitz.‘’I have already beaten him twice, and in our second fight I was beaten by injury,’’ said the 35 year-old champion. ‘’I can guarantee that the fourth fight will be our last. Robert throws a lot of punches, but he has no killer blow. Although I cannot promise a KO, I will leave the audience in no doubt over who the better boxer is.’’
As an added incentive Wegner has given his fighter the following ultimatum: ‘’If Arthur loses this fight, it’s over!’’ Revealing that should he lose the star coach would leave his pupil and advise him to hang up his gloves. To which, Abraham declared: ‘’I will not lose! I plan on continuing my career for at least another two years and then retiring along with my coach and my world championship belt.’’
Arthur Abraham’s WBO World Super Middleweight title defence against Robert Stieglitz takes place on July 18 at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle. Tickets are available by calling the Gerry Weber Ticket Centre on (+49) 5201 81 80 or online via http://www.gerryweber-world.de and http://www.tickethall.de. All the action will be shown live on SAT.1 in Germany and Sky Sports in the UK.
