Erdei, Dzinziruk still champions!
Balzsay, Blain, Boystov also victorious

Photos: Eroll Popova

May 5, 2008

In the fifth and final 175lb title fight of the "Month of Light Heavyweights," unbeaten WBO champion Zsolt Erdei (29-0, 17 KOs) made the tenth successful defense of his belt by schooling #4 rated DeAndrey Abron (15-2, 10 KOs) over twelve one-sided rounds on Saturday night at the Freiberger Arena in Dresden, Germany.

Erdei pressed the action against the much taller Abron who tried to use his reach from the outside. From early on it was apparent that Edrei's speed and boxing skills put him at a much higher level than his outclassed challenger, who was unable to generate any kind of effective attack. Erdei rocked Abron in the last round, but was content to settle for a clear 119-109 win across the board.

"I saved my energy in this fight," said Erdei afterward. "In the twelfth round I stepped on the gas again because I wanted to finish the fight early but it didn't work out. I didn't take any risks because my opponent could hit really hard. This was Zsolt Erdei at 80 percent. I still could have done a little bit more, but I'm a careful person. I'm satisfied. This was a technically good performance."

In the other world title fight on the "Universum Champions Night" world title twinbill, WBO junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk (35-0, 22 KOs) retained his title for the fourth time with a very exciting, hard-fought and fast-paced twelve round majority decision over #2 rated mandatory challenger Lukas Konecny (36-3, 18 KOs).

Crowd favorite Konecny pressed the action and his attacks had success against Dzinziruk, however the southpaw champion retained his composure and demonstrated his great technical skills as he connected often against the always advancing challenger. Scores were 114-114 and 115-113, and a too wide 118-110 for Dzinziruk.

"Lukas Konecny impressed me with his strength and courage," commented the still unbeaten champion after his closest bout. "I wouldn't have thought that the fight would go the distance. The fight was postponed twice so maybe I wasn't in good form."

The Konecny camp was bitter about judges' verdict, which was later appealed. "I'm satisfied with my performance, but not with the decision," said Konecny. "I see myself as the winner. I won eight rounds."

His trainer Dirk Dzemski added, "This was a bad decision. Count the punches. Lukas surprised everybody. Nobody expected him to be so strong. This fight calls for a rematch!"

In other results...

Unbeaten WBO Intercontinental titlist Karoly Balzsay (18-0, 13 KOs), currently #7 WBO rankings at super middleweight, knocked out Mantas Tarvydas (15-2, 10 KOs) in round ten to retain his title.

Unbeaten WBO Intercontinental champion and WBO #1 junior welterweight contender Willy Blain (19-0, 3 KOs) scored a hard-fought twelve round majority decision over Indonesian star Daudy "The Bali Boy" Bahari (36-2-1, 13 KOs). Scores were 115-113, 115-113, 114-114.

Unbeaten heavyweight KO artist Denis Boytsov (21-0, 18 KOs) was forced to go the full eight rounds against veteran Robert Hawkins (23-11, 7 KOs), winning a one-sided unanimous decision.

Other results:
Zsolt Bedak W8 Jorge Cardenas (bantamweight)
Kirstin Schönig W6 Evgenia Zablotskaja (flyweight)