ZWICKAU, Germany (AP) - Armenia's Arthur Abraham retained the IBF middleweight title Saturday in a rousing 12-round brawl with Kofi Jantuah.
On the same card, Germany's Markus Beyer retained the WBC super middleweight title against Australian Sakio Bika when a head butt stopped the fight.
The fight was ruled a technical draw after Bika's fourth round head butt opened a cut under the German's right eye and it swelled shut.
Around 4,000 spectators gave Abraham, 21-0 with 17 knockouts, a standing ovation after the action-filled fight. He was awarded a 115-112, 116-111, 117-109 decision against Jantuah, who lives in Las Vegas.
Jantuah (30-3, 19 knockouts) was staggered numerous times from the fifth round on and looked as if he was going down in the 11th when Abraham buckled his knees with a left, but never stopped pressing the fight.
Abraham kept trying to knock him out, even in the 12th, when he had a big lead to protect.
"I tried but you can't get everything you want," Abraham said. "That was a hard fight - I learned a lot tonight."
Abraham calls himself the "Smurf Champion," wearing a floppy smurf hat in his ring entrance while a children's song plays.
"I'm disappointed with myself," Jantuah said. "I got caught up with trying to knock him out."
Bika is now entitled to a rematch against Beyer after his head butt was ruled an accident. The Cameroon-born fighter jarred Beyer with a left, then moved in as the German tried to grab him.
The fight was wide open after two slow rounds gave way to an explosive third.
Bika rattled Beyer with a short left uppercut, then chased him around the ring. The German tagged him with some hard lefts beforehand and recovered to put him into the ropes just before the bell.
Beyer entered the fight 34-2 with 13 knockouts, while Bika was 20-1 with 13 knockouts.
