By Jake Donovan

Opinions remain as divided as the 50/50 perception surrounding the upcoming super middleweight title clash between nine lives champ Arthur Abraham and hard-luck contender Martin Murray. 

The two collide this Saturday in Hannover, Germany. The city played host to the final pre-fight press conference on Wednesday afternoon, with both sides believing they have the other side all figured out in guaranteeing victory. 

“This is a real 50-50 fight,” Kalle Sauerland, Abraham’s promoter noted during the press session. “I think it will be Arthur’s toughest test for many years. However, he has never shied away from a challenge, and against Murray, I expect Arthur to prove why he is the number one fighter in the super middleweight division.”

Abraham enters this weekend’s title fight on the heels of a 6th round knockout of longtime rival Robert Stieglitz this past July. The win put Abraham up 3-1 in their four-fight series, with two of the bouts having taken place in the past 20 months. Also included over that stretch are back-to-back decision wins over England’s Paul Smith.

If nothing else, this camp gave the defending champ an opportunity to study someone other than a familiar foe. 

“This has been one of the toughest camps of my career,” said Abraham (43-4, 29KOs), who makes the fifth defense of his second tour as a super middleweight titlist. “My coach Ulli Wegner and his assistant Georg Bramowski have pushed me to my limits. It’s been brutal at times, but it will all be worthwhile when my hand is raised on Saturday night.

“Martin is a good boxer and I expect him to give me a hard fight, but there is no way he is taking my title!”

Naturally, the visiting challenger disagrees. 

“We’ve been studying Arthur carefully and I believe I’ve got him beat,” insists Murray (32-2-1, 15KOs), whose three career blemishes all came in failed middleweight title bids – all of which have taken place away from his native England. “He is a great fighter, but he’s not changed his style in years, and in my opinion, he’s not evolved.”

Murray has won three straight since moving up to super middleweight following an 11th round stoppage loss at the lethal hands of unbeaten middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin. 

The setback was his lone convincing defeat at the title stage. Murray came up short in a disputed 12-round decision to then-World middleweight king Sergio Martinez in their April ’13 championship bout in Argentina and being forced to settle for a questionable 12-round draw versus Felix Sturm on the road in Dec. ’11, a bout that marks his lone other career appearance in Germany. 

Still, the move up in weight – which also included a change in promoters in signing with Matchroom Boxing – has the 33-year old confident of victory even in once again marching into hostile territory.

“It’s going to be a tough fight but I know it’s well within me to win,” Murray states. “I won’t be leaving Germany without the title!”

 

Saturday’s super middleweight title fight airs live on SAT.1 in Germany, on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and has been recently added to a special Saturday afternoon edition of boxing coverage on A Wealth of Entertainment (AWE TV) in the United States. 

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox