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. 

Saturday’s super middleweight title fight takes place at TUI Arena in Hannover, Germany. The bout 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. 

Abraham (43-4, 29KOs) 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.

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.

Which fighter will prove to be correct? Read on to see how the staff at BoxingScene.com believes the super middleweight title fight action plays out. 

BOXINGSCENE.COM STAFF PREDICTIONS: ARTHUR ABRAHAM vs. MARTIN MURRAY

Miguel Assuncao (Abraham Dec.): The power of Abraham's cumulative shots will wear down a game Murray. The Brit's tight defense will see him to the final bell.

Ryan Bivins (Abraham Dec.): Abraham and Murray have similar fighting styles but Abraham can actually punch and has home court advantage.

Shaun Brown (Murray Dec.): A well matched contest where Abraham's scoring raids will play a huge part and how Murray answers or evades them will go a long way to how this fight pans out. This is Abraham's toughest test since Andre Ward. If he isn't switched on or has a slow start then he'll be playing catch-up before he knows it. Murray is always a fighter that performs much better against better opposition. I believe the Murray that performed against Sturm, Martinez and Golovkin will show up and that will be enough to take the title away from Germany with a points win around the 116-112 mark.

Ryan Burton (Abraham Dec.): I think this will be a 115-113 116-112 type of fight that the hometown fighter wins.

Jake Donovan (Murray Dec.): Not sure if it's the pre-fight charge from the Barmy Army that has me leaning toward the challenger, but I base my guess on a combination of Abraham on borrowed time (despite recent form) and Murray long overdue a big win. Murray looks comfortable at super middleweight, which was my only question mark. I believe he will be busy enough over all 12 rounds to finally claim a road win and his first major title. 

Stephen "Breadman" Edwards (Abraham Dec.): I see a close fight and a split decision in favor of the champion.

Michael Gibbons (Murray Dec.): Hard fight to predict but I like the work rate of Murray and I think he finally capitalizes in a big fight.

Chris Glover (Murray Dec.): Expecting an always improving Martin Murray to finally win his world title against the ageing Abraham. Abraham has been an excellent servant to boxing however I feel Murray's youth, work rate and the strength he possesses will be the difference come fight night. 

George Ogier (Abraham Dec.): Martin Murray really is the nearly man of British boxing and I think he will come up short again on Saturday night. Murray’s first real test at super middleweight comes in the form of a title shot against perennial world level operator “King” Arthur. As baptisms of fire go they don’t come much hotter. If Murray was a bigger puncher I’d give him a much greater chance of victory here. I just don’t think Murray’s boxing are skills good enough to catch out a wily old campaigner like Abraham. It won’t be anything flashy from Abraham but he’ll do enough to steal rounds and at the same time make Murray look bad. The biggest names on Murray’s record provide him with zero wins so far and even allowing for the fact that he clearly beat a jaded Sergio Martinez I don’t see the wins column improving.

Takahiro Onaga (Abraham Dec.): I think this fight will be the most controversial of the weekend with Abraham getting the rub of the green in Germany. It will be competitive but Murray would get the win on neutral soil. Abraham's time is coming to an end but Murray won't have the work rate to end Abraham's reign.

Cliff Rold (Murray Dec.): Abraham has been teetering for awhile and Murray is active and tall enough to force him into a shell. Activity should trump power here.
 
Victor Salazar (Murray TKO): I think Abraham's time is up and feel that Murray is better. However, I fear that he won't get a decision in Germany. With that, Murray should know this - not getting the victory versus Sturm in Germany and Martinez in Argentina - and will go for the knockout and get it. 

Alexey Sukachev (Abraham Dec.): A rejuvenated version of "King" Arthur will pose a threat for anyone in this weight class - especially a novice like Murray. Murray is skillful enough to make it look (and be) close but at the end Abraham's spirit and punching power will prevail by majority decision. 

Totals:
Abraham - 7
Murray - 6

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