Arthur Abraham


Avetik Grigori Abrahamyan, best known as Arthur Abraham, is an Armenian-born German former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the International Boxing Federation middleweight title from 2005 to 2009, and the World Boxing Organization super-middleweight title twice between 2012 and 2016.

Early life

Avetik Abrahamyan was born in Yerevan, Soviet Armenia on 20 February 1980 to parents Grigor and Sylvia Abrahamyan. He moved to Germany with his parents and brothers in 1995 at the age of 15. As a teenager, Abraham showed an interest in cycling and eventually became the North Bavarian and Franconian Youth Champion. However, after watching an exciting Mike Tyson fight, Arthur was inspired to become a boxing star too. In 1999, Arthur and his brothers returned to Armenia for military service. After 2002, all the brothers had finished their military service and returned to Germany in 2003.

Amateur career

Abraham boxed as an amateur in Bamberg and later in Nuremberg. He was an International junior welterweight German champion in 1997 and a three time Senior light middleweight Armenian champion in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Abraham attempted to compete for Armenia at the 2000 Summer Olympics, but was unable due to his two years of military service. In 2003, with Arthur and his brother Alexander returned to Germany, hoping to begin a professional boxing career. His final amateur record was 81–3–6.
In 2003, Arthur and Alexander competed alongside promoter and manager Wilfried Sauerland and his head coach Ulli Wegner. Arthur was a sparring partner for IBF and WBA super middleweight champion Sven Ottke, whom was in the preparations of a title defense. Wegner was so impressed that he began to train Arthur personally.

Amateur highlights

Middleweight

Early career

Abraham started his professional career on 16 August 2003. The Sauerland-promoted Abraham had many early victories. He defeated Canadian southpaw Ian Gardner for the vacant WBA Inter-Continental middleweight title, Hector Velazco and contender Nader Hamdan.
In July 2005, Abraham defended his WBA Inter-Continental title against the highly regarded Briton Howard Eastman. Eastman had previously only lost to American William Joppy and former Undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins.

IBF middleweight champion

Abraham vs. Ikeke

On 10 December 2005, in Leipzig, Germany, Abraham won the vacant IBF middleweight title against Kingsley Ikeke by a 5th round knock-out. The IBF belt had previously been vacated by undisputed champion Jermain Taylor after a bout with Abraham was denied in October that year. In the fifth round, Arthur met Ikeke with hard shots to the head. Ikeke began to tumble toward the canvas and Abraham landed some final rights to seal the victory.
Abraham defended his title on 5 March 2006 with a unanimous decision against Australian Shannan Taylor. Two months later, Abraham won a second title defense against Kofi Jantuah, also on points.

Abraham vs. Miranda

On 23 September 2006, Abraham won a decision against undefeated contender Edison Miranda despite having his jaw broken in two places in round four. Miranda took advantage of this by fighting dirty. Miranda was docked five points for landing repeated low blows as well as intentionally headbutting Abraham. However, even without the five points deducted, Abraham would have still won the fight. Abraham's jaw was operated on the night after the fight. He had 22 screws inserted into two titanium plates. After the Miranda bout, Arthur was praised for his ability to finish the fight despite his injury.
Abraham defeated Canadian Sébastien Demers by KO in the third round after two minutes and fifty-seven seconds. Abraham was clearly physically superior than his opponent. Arthur won his fifth title defense by defeating fellow Armenian Khoren Gevor by 11th-round knockout from a powerful left hook.

Abraham vs. Elcock, Ayala

On 8 December 2007, Abraham defeated Wayne Elcock to make his sixth title defense by technical knockout in the 5th round.
During two of his matches, Abraham was accompanied by live performances of the Scorpions and is currently accompanied by the track "Ready For The Fight" by The Young Punx.
On 29 March 2008, Abraham defeated American Elvin Ayala via 12th-round KO after connecting with a devastating left hook that sent his opponent crashing to the canvas face first. This was Abraham's 7th successful title defence.

Abraham vs. Miranda II

On 21 June 2008, a rematch between Abraham and Miranda took place at a catchweight of 166 lbs. Abraham's IBF middleweight title was not on the line. In the first minute of the fourth round, a perfectly timed right hand-left hook sent Miranda to the floor. Miranda rose, clearly hurt. Another left hook would drop Miranda along the ropes and Miranda would again rise but his legs were clearly gone and the end was at hand. Abraham landed a final striking right hand for the round's third knockdown as the referee leapt in to halt the action before Miranda could attempt to rise again.

Abraham vs. Marquez

On 8 November 2008, Abraham defeated Raúl Márquez, 37, by a 6th round technical knockout, at the Bamberg's Jako Arena, the 8th defense of his IBF middleweight boxing title.
He retained his IBF title on 14 March 2009 against Lajuan Simon, his first fight over 12 rounds since his legendary battle against Edison Miranda. The 10th and final defense of his middleweight title took place in Berlin against Mahir Oral. Abraham won this fight by a 10th-round technical knockout. Oral's coach threw in the towel after several knockdowns.

Super-middleweight

Super Six World Boxing Classic

After failing to secure a match-up with WBO and WBC champion Kelly Pavlik or WBA champion Felix Sturm, Abraham announced that he would change his weight class to compete at super middleweight. Abraham participated in the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament for the WBA and WBC super middleweight titles. Fellow participants were: WBA champion Mikkel Kessler, WBC champion Carl Froch, Andre Dirrell, Andre Ward and Jermain Taylor.
Abraham vs. Taylor
In his first match of the tournament, Abraham faced Jermain Taylor on 17 October 2009. Arthur was previously supposed to fight Taylor for the undisputed middleweight title, but the fight fell through. Abraham defeated Taylor via a devastating knockout in the 12th round. Taylor was hospitalized with a severe concussion, suffering short-term memory loss, unable to remember details of this bout. Taylor was replaced with veteran Allan Green in the tournament. After being released from the hospital, Taylor released a statement saying that he's doing just fine and wanted to congratulate Abraham on his victory and wish him well in the tournament. Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was in attendance and was impressed by Abraham's intensity and determination.
As of the end of 2009, The Ring has ranked Abraham as the 14th best boxer in the world. On 5 March 2010, Abraham was ranked #8 in the world by Yahoo! Sports.
Abraham vs. Dirrell
On 27 March 2010, Abraham fought American boxer Andre Dirrell in the second stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. At the end of round 10, Dirrell was comfortably ahead 97–92, 98–91 and 97–92 on the scorecards. In round 10, Abraham knocked Dirrell down following a straight right, but the referee ruled it a slip. Abraham lost via disqualification due to hitting Dirrell after he slipped in the 11th round. Dirrell slipped after being hit on the chin near the corner. The fight was stopped at 1:13 of the round. After he slipped, Abraham landed a right hand to his chin, knocking him down and out completely. Through a translator, Abraham said, "I was not looking at his feet, I was looking at his eyes. I didn't see if he was down." After the punch, the ring immediately filled up with people including Andre's brother Anthony. Andre was taken to hospital for a brain scan. Anthony later confirmed that his brother was alright. Abraham suffered his first defeat professionally due to the disqualification.
Abraham vs. Froch
Abraham was next scheduled to fight British boxer Carl Froch, also for the vacant WBC super middleweight title on 27 November 2010. The fight was pushed back from 2 October in Monaco due to Froch suffering a back injury. The fight took place at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland. Abraham failed to become a two-weight world champion, losing to Froch in his third fight of the tournament. Abraham was dominated from start to finish, losing by a unanimous decision. The scores given by the judges were 119–109, 120–108 and 120–108, which reflected the one-sided nature of the bout. Abraham was disappointed with his performance, "I wanted to hit him. I tried but I could not do it. Nothing more to say." Froch stated it was his best performance to date.
Abraham vs. Ward
Abraham qualified for the semifinals, having one win out of three fights. But first, Abraham had a pre-fight with Croatian contender Stjepan Božić. Abraham won by technical knockout in the second round due to an injury in Božić's hand.
On 14 May 2011, Abraham fought undefeated American Andre Ward in the Super Six semi finals for the WBA super middleweight title. The fight took place at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Abraham entered having lost two of his previous three bouts. Ward started out slow with Abraham, trying to find a way to penetrate his tight defense. After a competitive first few rounds, Ward seized control of the fight, using his ring savvy and instincts to control Abraham. Although Abraham was somewhat passive at times, he gave an earnest effort and frequently threw combinations that were mostly blocked by Ward. Abraham hurt Ward a couple of times in the final round, but it wasn't enough to finish Ward, who had dominated the fight and won a lopsided unanimous decision. The three judges scored the bout 120–108, 118–110 & 118–111. ESPN had it 118–110 in favor of Ward. Abraham didn't believe he had lost the fight with such wide scores. Over 12 rounds, Ward threw 289 jabs. In total he landed 178 of 444 total punches thrown. Ward went on to defeat Froch in the finals and won the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament.