HAMBURG, Germany – Heavyweight Labinot Xhoxhaj won a 12-round unanimous decision over Mourad Aliev here on Saturday in a show staged outside the new Universum Gym.
Judges scored the fight 115-113, 114-113 and 115-112 for Xhoxhaj, who improved to 21-0-1 (16 KOs), retained a regional title and added another minor belt to his collection.
Aliev, a Russian-born southpaw fighting out of France, fell to 13-1 (10 KOs).
Unheralded welterweight Falah Simoqy, 4-0-1 (4 KOs), stopped favored Henry Gruen, 8-1 (3 KOs), in the fourth of a scheduled 10 rounds, in an exciting punch-up in which both fighters had their moments.
However, Simoqy could take everything Gruen was able to dish out with a smile, while Gruen appeared to have suffered a broken nose in the second. Henry was finally floored in the fourth but got up and punched back on shaky legs. As Simoqy poured it on, the referee made a belated stoppage at 1 minute, 55 seconds of the round.
Nicaragua’s Roberto Arriaza stopped Germany’s Mike Jaede in the second round of a super middleweight bout. Jaede, 20-1 (16 KOs), was hurt by a left hook early in the round and his right eye began to swell. He took a beating along the ropes and went down, and the towel came in from his corner to salt away the win for Arriaza, 21-13 (16 KOs).
Cuban heavyweight Jose Larduet, 14-1 (12 KOs), knocked out the Netherlands’ Brian Zwart, 6-2 (4 KOs), with a left hook to the body just 33 seconds into the first round. The knockout blow was the only punch Larduet threw in the entire fight.
Cruiserweight Torsten Fuchs showed good punching power and a fragile chin in his fight against Flamur Haxha. Germany’s Fuchs, 14-2 (11 KOs), went down, got up and was hurt again, but as Haxha tried to follow up, he walked into a short right hand and fell as if he had been shot. A German national fighting out of Kosovo, Haxha, 7-1 (7 KOs), managed to rise to his feet, but the referee called it off amid a chorus of boos from the crowd.
Polish heavyweight king Kacper Meyna, 15-1 (9 KOs), won over Venezuela’s Luis Jose Marin Garcia, 16-11 (11 KOs), on points after a six-rounder filled with wrestling, holding and wild punches.