By Alexey Sukachev
Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg, Germany - If a single robbery involving the same fighter wasn't enough, former WBA light heavyweight champion Gabriel Campillo (21-3-1, 8 KOs) was arguably robbed once again in a return match against German prospect Karo Murat (24-1-1, 14 KOs). The official verdict of the contest was a split draw: 115-113 - for Murat, 114-114 - even, and 111-117 - for the Spaniard. De facto the fight was ultimately going Campillo's way, who was a sharper and the more consistent fighter of the two. BoxingScene had it 116-112 - for the WBA #1 and IBF #4 ranked Spanish light heavyweight, who proved once again (and contrary to numerous attempts by various judges to downplay his boxing skills) that he rightfully belongs among the elite at 175lb class.
Campillo, a victim of a highly controversial loss to then-WBA champion Beibut Shumenov in 2010, had a light first round to shake off the rust. Murat was connecting a lot with various punches, especially to the body of the Spaniard. Round two was even, with both fighters landing their money shots - left hook by the IBF #2 ranked German (who is also WBO #11 and WBA #14 rated light heavyweight) and strong left jab and multilple combinations. However, the Spanish fighter was much more consistent than his opponent, penetrating Murat's defense with visible ease. Campillo rocked the German several times in rounds six and seven, however, he was unable to put him down because he lacks the necessary dynamite in his gloves.
In the tenth stanza Murat caught a second wind and started to connect his punches on the quickly fading Campillo. Murat began to break the Spaniard's body and was rather successful in doing so. The German's late surge was also ferocious, but Campillo somehow managed to find some inner resources to retaliate and to turn the fight into a highly thrilling, two-way slugfest, which was ending slightly in his favor.
Murat retained his IBF I/C title in a fight, which was also an official IBF eliminator for the title, currently owned by Tavoris Cloud. Three years ago Murat was able to get a dubious win over Campillo with a majority decision to defend his EBU super middleweight title. Indeed, there was no sweet revenge for Campillo.
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Rising German light heavyweight Dustin Dirks (22-0, 16 KOs) scored a spectacular knockout of rugged Frenchman Parfait Tindani (7-7-3, 1 KO) in the last preliminary fight of the evening. Dirks, quite a smooth boxer-puncher, with considerable power, was better than his brave but barely educated opponent throughout the entire eight round bout. Regardles, Tindani marched forward and tried to deliver some leather, but he was just not on the same level with Dirks. The end came at 2:37 of the eighth and last stanza after a thunderous left hook of the German which put Tindani to sleep instantly.
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German heavyweight hope Edmund Gerber (17-0, 11 KOs) continued his steady development after a seventh round stoppage of American journeyman Yohan Banks (4-6-3, 2 KOs). The fight was dull and predictably one-sided almost all the way until the last minute of the seventh stanza, when Gerber landed an eye-catching left-right combination right onto the nose of the American to drop him down for a count. Time was 2:10 of the round.
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In the opening fight at Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg, Germany, undefeated 23-year-old super middleweight Henry Weber (15-0-1, 3 KOs) got a split decision victory over Croatian veteran Stjepan Bozic (24-6, 15 KOs) over eight rounds in the hardest test of his career so far. Weber prompted to a nice start but later in the fight it was 36-year old Bozic who came out blazing. However, Weber showed some grit and durability to get a close decision. Bozic is a former WBA title challenger and a loser to Arthur Abraham in his last outing.
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