King Arthur knocks out Taylor

Ryland James

‘King’ Arthur Abraham opened his Super Six campaign with a 12th-round knock-out of United States fighter Jermain Taylor here on Saturday.

With an unblemished record of 31 wins and now 25 knock-outs, it was a punch straight through Taylor’s guard at the end of the final round which left the American pole-axed on the canvas. This was Taylor’s fourth career defeat and his second consecutive loss after he suffered a last-round defeat to WBC super-middleweight champion Carl Froch in April.

“I’m really disappointed and pretty sad, it was a hard punch - no questions,” said Taylor, who had to be revived and taken to hospital after the bout as a precaution. “I’m not finished yet: I can win my next two fights.” But in front of his home fans at the O2 World Arena here in the German capital, Abraham was delighted to begin the Super Six tournament with an impressive performance.

“He is a brave fighter, anyone can see that, but I gave everything to win,” said former IBF middleweight champion Abraham, who will box Andre Dirrell next on January 23 in the USA. “I always find it hard to start the fights, but I imposed myself and I’m very happy to have finished the fight before the end of the round.

“It was not such a good start for me, my opponent took a lot of punches. I tried to keep finding the holes in his defence and they started to appear as the fight wore on.

“I’m pleased to start with the three points, I hope there are more knock-outs to come.” Taylor started the stronger of the two and threw several combinations which were sucked up by Abraham’s guard.

The American lived up to his “Bad Intentions” nickname when he was warned in the second round for a low punch. But the Armenian-born, German fighter finished the second and began the third with a flurry of bodyshots.

There was an angry exchange between the pair at the end of the round when Abraham appeared to punch Taylor in the back of the head and the former WBC and WBO middleweight champion tore into his opponent at the start of the fourth.

Taylor later landed a punch after the bell, but Abraham retaliated with two strong combinations during the fifth. Repeated low shots led to Taylor having a point deducted in the sixth round.

Abraham drove Taylor onto the ropes in the eighth, but it was heavy punch to the side of the head in the ninth which rocked the American. Abraham pinned Taylor in his own corner midway through the 11th, but the American still fought his way out of trouble. In the last round, the German again caught the American with a devastating combination, but it was a final punch through the guard which knocked Taylor to the canvas and the 31-year-old was out for the count.

The Super Six will see both fighters also taking on Andre Ward, Froch, Dirrell and WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler with the top four ranked boxers at the end of the tournament fighting in semi-finals with the final set to take place in 2011.

BERLIN, Sunday, AFP