There can only be one winner, and that is Arthur Abraham (36-3, 28 KOs).
That is at least the opinion of the WBO Champion himself and his team. The
world title fight between Abraham and Robert Stieglitz (43-3, 24 KOs) is
just around the corner and unsurprisingly both camps are convinced that they
have the edge over their opposition. At today’s press conference in
Magdeburg, Germany, the protagonists of the world title bout as well as
their coaches and the WBO´s current number one at heavyweight, Robert
Helenius (18-0, 11 KOs), gave their statements ahead of Saturday night.
These are the best quotes:
Arthur Abraham, WBO Super-Middleweight Champion: I am very excited to be
fighting in the city of Magdeburg. My first fight here was when Sven Ottke
retired and the atmosphere was amazing. The crowd was even doing the Mexican
wave which you normally only get during soccer games. I have never seen
anything like that outside of Magdeburg. I can only say one thing about the
fight. We won the first fight and consequently took the world championship.
Now it´s time for the rematch and we have a clear goal. We have to destroy
him and we will do everything we can to reach our goal which showed during
our preparations. We have a lot of respect for our opponents but once we
step into the ring I have to destroy him, no question.
Robert Stieglitz, challenger: Those are some big words. We will see what
happens come March 23. I am in great shape and want to take revenge. There
is a reason why I was the world champion for more than two years and I want
the crown back. It was a close decision (the first fight). I am excited to
be fighting in Magdeburg. The fans will help me to take revenge and I am
looking forward to that.
Ulli Wegner, coach of Abraham: I don’t really have to tell you what I want
to happen come Saturday. We will leave the ring as the winner. We have to be
that confident as Arthur is the reigning world champion. It will be a great
fight and in my opinion the first couple of rounds and the reaction of the
crowd could be decisive. May the best man win, and it is not a surprise that
as a coach I have faith in my guy. We did everything we could to get Arthur
into shape and we will give it our all.
Dirk Dzemski, coach of Stieglitz: Robert´s preparation has been great. I am
convinced that this will be an exciting fight, maybe even a war. I hope that
the home fans will be right behind Robert and keep pushing him throughout
the bout. I also hope that he will not make the same mistakes again. We have
been working on them for a long time. He has a good game plan and tactics
which will surprise you.
Robert Helenius, WBO #1 heavyweight: I am really looking forward to
Saturday. My opponent is great and therefore it will be a great fight. My
sparring partners have all been good and I will just do my thing. I will
keep him at distance with my jab and then get him with a hard right.
Wilfried Sauerand: I have to say that we always had great events here in
Magdeburg. I am not surprised at all that it will be a sellout crowd on
Saturday. The people here have a great knowledge of the sport and they know
when there is good boxing on display. I hope that Arthur will be as
successful here as Sven Ottke was and that the fight on Saturday will have
the same quality as their first one in Berlin.
Kalle Sauerland: I said before the first fight that it will turn out to be a
war, and that was exactly what happened. I don’t expect the rematch to be
any different. We are confident and believe that we will again turn out to
be the winners.
Tickets for the big fight night at the GETEC-Arena in Magdeburg, Germany can
be purchased at www.boxen.com as well as www.sesboxing.de and
www.eventim.de.