On Saturday, Arthur Abraham dethroned WBO super-middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz via unanimous decision. The scorecards read 116-112 twice, and 115-113 ? a close fight. Abraham is now a two-division titlist, having earlier held the middleweight crown before moving up in poundage. But even though the WBO belt is a major world title, it still represents something of a consolation prize for Abraham.
The reason it?s only a consolation is that Abraham lost three out of four fights in the 2009-2011 Super Six Super-Middleweight tournament. After blasting Jermain Taylor into temporary retirement in his first Super Six match, Abraham lost his undefeated status in his next tournament contest when he was disqualified for hitting Andre Dirrell after Dirrell had slipped to the canvas. He was then widely outpointed by Carl Froch and Andre Ward. In the final bout of the tournament, Ward decisioned Froch.
Ward now holds the WBA and WBC belts, and is recognized as world champion by The Ring magazine. But the 168-lb crown remains fractured. Froch rebounded in May with a sensational kayo win over previously undefeated IBF champion Lucian Bute ? who was not included in the Super Six. Stieglitz wasn?t in the Super Six, either. Even though he had only two losses on his ledger, Stieglitz?s opponents weren?t highly regarded, and he was basically considered ?the other guy? among super-middleweight belt-holders.
Now that Abraham has beaten Stieglitz, who put up a much better fight than expected, does that make Abraham ?the other guy? now? More or less, yes.
There?s no reason to believe that Abraham could perform any better against Ward and Froch than he did when he faced them the first time. The fight public is certainly not clamoring to see a rematch with either of his conquerors.
But what if light-heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, who is dropping down a weight class, defeats Ward in their Sept. 8 superfight? Well, that would sure upset a lot of fistic applecarts. Dawson would become a simultaneous two-division champion ? at least until the alphabet organizations demanded that he relinquish one of his titles. A rematch with Ward would be virtually guaranteed.
If Ward wins, he will most likely abandon the super-middleweights. Ward could claim Dawson?s light-heavyweight title, as both fighters would have weighed in below the 175-lb limit.
Where would Abraham fit in either of those scenarios? Nowhere, really. It?s already been proven demonstrably that he is no match for Ward. And there?s no way the undersized Abraham can defeat Dawson.
Still, Abraham, who is only 32, has plenty of opportunities to make big bucks defending his piece of the crown. There?s already talk of matching him with Mikkel Kessler, another casualty of the Super Six. Bute is another possibility, if he isn?t keen on going after an immediate rematch with Froch. Or he could take on comebacking former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. Had these two met in 2007 or 2008, the bout would have been only a notch or so below the ephemeral Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather matchup in terms of anticipation. Now, it would be more a matter of belated unfinished business.
Going into the Super Six, Abraham was one of the favorites to win the tournament, even though he was moving up a weight division. He failed to fulfill that lofty expectation. Even so, Abraham is no slouch. And a consolation prize is better than no prize at all.
Charles R. Saunders is the author of several books including Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers in the Maritimes from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace, as well as the Imaro series of fantasy/adventure novels. Considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on boxing in Canada, he is the current Vice-President of Boxing for the Society of North American Sports Historians and Researchers. His award-winning novel, Damballa, which centers around a fictional heavyweight title bout, is available at Amazon.com.
