Bill of the Weekend - 14/1/12

New feature where I will be using Boxrec's star system to preview what they regard as the Fight of the Weekend and also hopefully a good undercard to match it.


It's a really quiet weekend and bar the ESPN FNF bill that I've already featured on my prospect watch, and Box Nation's card at the York Hall on Friday night, headlined by a poor looking main event for the British cruiserweight title, there's a genuine lack of anything to get excited about.


Step forward on Saturday night our good old, corrupt friends from Germany, promoted by Sauerland, which has the weekend's only male Boxrec three star fight, although that isn't the main event, or even the co feature.


The sold out event in Offenburg sees the return of Arthur Abraham and a WBO Super Middleweight title fight between champion Robert Stieglitz and little known unbeaten German, Henry Weber.

Pulev will be tested by Sprott

However the best fight on paper is a heavyweight contest involving a Brit in the very experienced Michael Sprott, who takes on unbeaten Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev, scheduled for 12 and for the IBF International title.


Pulev who's 14-0 (6 KO's) is already ranked #10 in the world and made a good transition to 12 round level last time out against American Travis Walker, who he beat quite easily over 12, although his power has to be questioned, as five of Walker's seven defeats have come inside the distance. To be fair this kid has been matched quite hard in his career for a prospect (fought Matt Skelton in his 5th fight), but looking at his amateur career, he was decent, however nothing special. He's clearly not a massive puncher, his last stoppage win over Derric Rossy was highly controversial, and in my opinion this guy still has a lot of work, despite some impressive wins on his resume.


Sprott is better than his record of 36-17 (17 KO's), but has started to look like an old, somewhat exposed fighter in his last couple of bouts, getting outpointed in the first round of the International Prizefighter, and then getting beat over 12 by Alexander Dimitrenko for the European title. This guy has improved with age, but this is his 54th fight, and I think he'll struggle to pull of an upset. Like I've said though, I cant see Pulev stopping him because he's not the biggest punching heavyweight.


Headlining this bill is the WBO super middleweight title fight between Robert Stieglitz 40-2 (23 KO's) and Henry Weber 15-0-1 (3 KO's). You can see why it's a two star fight as you can't see Stieglitz, making his fifth defence, being stretched here. The Russian born fighter is already scheduled to make a huge defence in Denmark against local hero Mikkel Kessler, and this is clearly a comfortable looking tune up fight.

Stieglitz should remain WBO champ Saturday night

He's a much improved fighter since stoppage defeats to Alejandro Berrio (TKO3) and Librado Andrade (TKO8), and has beaten some solid operators in WBO title fights, including two unbeaten fighters in Karoly Balzsay, to win the belt, and also now European light heavyweight champ Eduard Gutknecht.


I know very little of 23 year old Weber, who comes into this fight on the back of a career best win over Stjepan Bozic, albeit a split decision over eight rounds. He's ranked #57 in the world, which says a lot about how poor a fight this is, and has a mere three stoppage wins, so it's hard to see him causing Stieglitz problems.


Stieglitz isn't a big puncher, but there's a real class and experience difference here, the champion has gone 12 rounds six times, Weber has never gone past eight. For me this looks like a mid round stoppage win for the champ, a perfect tune up for the big one, which will be a classic.

Abraham has a routine looking fight v Farias

Arthur Abraham 32-3 (26 KO's) returns after a tough Super 6 and is being aimed at maybe fighting the winner of the Stieglitz-Kessler fight as he takes on Pablo Oscar Natalio Frias for the WBO European title.


Abraham's stock has gone down in the last 18-24 months because he was exposed but a great calibre of opposition, however is still regarded as a very dangerous fighter because of his power. King Arthur is a huge ticket seller in Germany, but he's got plenty to prove after losing three of his last four, and that's why this contest intrigues me.


How is this contest for an European title when the opponent in the other corner is Argentinian I don't know, but we all know how bad these organisations are nowadays, and tend to ignore the rubbish they're seemingly fighting for. 


Argentina is a hard school, they're tough how out there, proven by welterweights Maidana and Matthysse, but this guy is ranked #71 in the world and is only #3 in his country, therefore it's hard to expect much. His record of 19-1 (11 KO's) is decent enough and that loss, which was in his last fight, was by disqualification. There's a real lack of quality on his CV though and this smells of a routine win for Abraham on his return.


The undercard features a Women's world title fight and another Sauerland fighter facing a Brit, as the unbeaten Dustin Dirks continues to be well matched v Sam Couzens.


It's a shame that it doesnt look like there will be any shocks on this bill, but Pulev v Sprott is intriguing and it will be interesting to see if Pulev underestimates Sprott