NUREMBERG, Germany — World super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham defended his WBO belt on Saturday with an eighth round technical knock-out win over France’s Mehdi Bouadla in Nuremberg.
Abraham dominated until American referee Mark Nelson stepped in to stop the one-sided contest 2:11 into the eighth round when Bouadla’s vision was impeded by streaming blood from repeated left and right blows.
Abraham, 32, defended his World Boxing Organisation belt for the first time since his unanimous victory over compatriot Robert Stieglitz in August which crowned him world champion for the second time.
The win over Bouadla was the 36th of his career and the 28th knock-out in his 39th fight as the bout was stopped after two minutes 11 seconds of the eighth round by referee Mark Nelson.
“This is where I started boxing. To be here now, in front of 10,000 people as world champion — there’s no better feeling,” Abraham said .
“We have only one recipe — to win. But I have to say that he never gave up. He kept going to the end, and he punched hard. 2012 was a great year. I became world champion. I’m very happy.”
Having previously defended his IBF middleweight title 10 times between 2005 and 2009, Abraham had few problems against the 30-year-old Frenchman.
“Abraham was as strong as I expected, he deserves to be champion,” said Bouadla.
Abraham (35-3, 28 KO), an Armenia-born German, had been in such control that he received a telling off from his coach after the fourth round for his gung-ho approach.
Nelson stopped the fight briefly in the seventh so the doctor could examine the cut beside Bouadla’s right eye.
But with blood streaming down his face, Abraham rocked him repeatedly with a rain of blows before Nelson stepped in towards the end of the eighth round to stop the fight.
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