Bayrern, Germany — Arthur Abraham made a successful defense of his WBO super-middleweight title yesterday with a one-sided drubbing of an over-matched Mehdi Bouadla. Abraham has shown much more fluidity in his transitions from offense to defense since his Super Six days and that continued here — the titlist used head movement and banged away to the body with wide but powerful hooks. That power difference was pronounced — any time Bouadla attempted to trade inside, Abraham’s strength forced him backwards. The damage began piling up around the sixth with Bouadla sporting a bloody nose and cut left eye. The damage was mounting with less resistance by the eighth, and a few hooks and uppercuts had Bouadla staggering around and prompted the appropriate stoppage.
Abraham’s still is in no man’s land, so to speak. Yes, he has a belt but it’s in name only. He’s not good enough to get past the likes of Carl Froch and Andre Ward, the top guys in division who already hold lopsided victories over him. And he’s outgrown the middleweight division, where some nice fight could have awaited him. What’s next for him? If Froch and Kessler rematch, maybe that opens the door for Abraham to take on Lucian Bute.
