By Alexey Sukachev

Max Schmeling Halle, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin - In his first fight since losing the WBO super middleweight title in April to Gilberto Ramirez in Las Vegas, 'King' Arthur Abraham (45-5, 30KOs) broke down and stopped Tim Robin Lihaug (15-2, 8KOs) in eight rounds.

Lihaug, who was taking a very big step up in class, was broken down round by round by big punches. He went down hard in the eight round, started taking more punishment and his corner threw in th towel to stop the contest.

With the win Abraham picks up the vacant WBO International super middleweight world title.

Norwegian super middleweight Lihaug might have thought the King was dethroned... and he was. But coming back to a rebel region of his European patrimony King Arthur has shown how wrong and disguised his 23-year old opponent was.

WBO #15 Lihaug, who is much bigger than the former IBF middleweight champion, relied on his jab and defensive prowess. It was soon revealed, however, that Lihaug's jab was inconsistent, while location of his hands (way too low) allowed Abraham to connect well - specifically with his right hand.

As always, the German took some time off to evaluate his opponent. Hidden well behing his tight block Abraham wasn't overly active with his trademark offensive outbursts but when he did outburst the effect was clearly seen. Lihaug's ability to take Abraham's punches was limited. He did well in the second and third rounds but Abraham connected with a big right hand at the end of the round. Round four saw Abraham on the offensive. Lihaug moved backwards, held when he could and tried to pop his jab into the King's face. But it was way too ineffective.

Abraham's pressure became even more telling by the end of the fifth. He went slowly after Lihaug and looked for a shot or two to put him down. Lihaug was badly shaken in the sixth while Abraham was confident and reserved. He tagged Lihaug with one right hand after another but mostly with single shots. The German uleashed more combos in the seventh stanza, rocking Lihaug several times. Early into the eighth he applied even more pressure and finally caught Lihaug with a right hand, and then another right hand, dropping him down hard. Lihaug got up and immediately found himself under fire. Abraham kept punching up until a moment referee Mikael Hook of Sweden intervened to wave it off.

WBO #6 Arthur Abraham has still something left in his tank even at a solid age of 36.

ON THE UNDERCARD

2012 British Olympic bronze medalist Anthony Ogogo (11-0, 7 KOs) fights disappointingly scarcely nowadays but when he does he looks refreshingly exciting. This time it was easy to shine as his Czech opponent Bronislav Kubin (19-21-2, 12 KOs) was seen on the canvas by far more frequently than in the upright position. Kubin, 37 and badly mismatched, was down twice in the first and four times in the second round before the stoppage. Ogogo, 27, is now 3-0, 3 KOs, since May, which followed a long period of sporadic fighting.

English flyweight champion Charlie Edwards (8-0, 3 KOs), just a year and a half into his boxing career, has already got a huge opportunity to put his name in historic books on September 10, when he takes on a three-time two-division champion Jhon Riel Casimero in what seems to be an extremely ambitious leap up in class. A unanimous decision over Nicaraguan Jose Aguilar (16-26-4, 6 KOs) over six warm-up rounds will do very little in terms of preparation for an entirely different level of fighting, and we shall see what Edwards is made of only in eight weeks. Edwards vs. Casimero will be a part of a huge night of boxing at O2 Arena in London, crowned by a megafight between Gennady Golovkin and Kell Brook.