By Alexey Sukachev

Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg, Germany - Australian Daniel Geale (25-1, 15 KOs), one of the finest middleweight technicians in the world, produced the fight of his life to become the new IBF middleweight champion following a heated split decision over previously reigning German fighter Sebastian Sylvester (34-4-1, 16 KOs). It was a tactical and stylistic affair all the way, but the former 5-time Australian amateur champion was the sharper and smarter of the two, getting the well deserved split nod on his succession of twelve hard-fought rounds.

Scores were surprisingly and scandalously wide in both favors: Steve Epstein (USA) had it 118-110 - for IBF #1 and The Ring #4 Geale, Berit Andreassen (Denmark) had the same margin - for The Ring #2 Sylvester, while Marcus McDonald (United Kingdom) scored it 118-112 - for the Australian fighter. BoxingScene had it 117-112 - also for Geale. Referee was Randy Neumann.

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German Eduard Gutknecht (21-1, 9 KOs) got possibly the most important single win of his career (so far) with a one-sided stoppage of European light heavyweight champion Danny McIntosh (13-2, 8 KOs) of England. WBO #5, WBC #9 and WBA #12 ranked Gutknecht, 28, fought for the third time in a new weight division but it was his first significant match-up at a higher weight class.

Gutknecht, a conventional orthodox stylist, controlled the action from the outset, scoring with hard left jabs and adding crisp right hands to trouble his highly awkward opponent. McIntosh bobbed and weaved under fire and also ducked too low so that he was tagged with snapping downright bombs by the German fighter. WBC #7, WBA #11 and IBF #13 ranked British fighter was cut on his right cheek in the fourth round but had a nice fifth stanza, maybe the only round he was competitive in against the local fighter. Round six was huge (possibly 10-8) for Eduard Gutknecht as he rocked McIntosh several times and had him in trouble almost all the way. McIntosh was more competitive in round seven but was deducted a point for a foul play. Finally, in the eighth Gutknecht went in for kill and forced Italian referee Giuseppe Quartarone to halt the action at 1:28 with badly battered McIntosh being punished mercilessly in the corner. Huge win for a new EBU light heavyweight champion.

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In an important light heavyweight match-up, highly regarded German contender Karo Murat (24-1, 14 KOs) made another step back into contention with a dominating stoppage of American guest Otis Griffin (23-8-2, 9 KOs) in a bid for a vacant IBF Intercontinental 175lbs title. IBF#9, WBO #10 and WBA #13 ranked local fighter, who suffered his first career setback last September against reigning WBO interim champion Nathan Cleverly, got the job done with a couple of hard left hooks to the whiskers at the very end of the eleventh round.

Murat started the contest with a higher workrate than his opponent. The German fighter chose to shake Griffin with looping left hands to the body to prevent the American from fleeing and to spoil his footwork. Rounds first to six were easily in Murat's favour. He kept the bigger American at bay with a left jab and continuously dug deeply to his body, he didn't use his right hand though, which enabled Griffin to employ sidesteps and to avoid some heated exchanges in close quarters.

A major turnaround ocurred in the seventh stanza. Is was when IBF #7 Griffin suddenly scored several hard combinations in succession and pinned the German fighter to the ropes. Murat was badly dazed throughout almost an entire round but survived and got back to the winning tracks in the eighth. Rounds nine and ten were pretty even but Murat just did more than neglecting Griffin, which forced the American to look for a knockout in the eleventh round. However, he has found nothing but defeat.

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Rising heavyweight prospect Edmund Gerber (15-0, 10 KOs) crushed British import Carl Baker (9-6, 6 KOs) with a single right hand, which put an end to a very short fight at 1:44 of the very first round. 22-year old Gerber got his fourth consecutive win over fighters from the United Kingdom or Ireland.

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Austrian middleweight talent Marcos Nader (10-0, 1 KO), 21, didn't look exceptionally great but easily scored a workmanlike unanimous decision over Italian Salvatore Annunziata (14-4-3, 3 KOs) over eight rounds.

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IBF #5 cruiserweight Enad Licina (20-3, 11 KOs) made a thunderous comeback from his spirited loss to the IBF king Steve "USS" Cunningham with a chilling destruction of hugely overmatched Italian Michele De Meo (13-5, 4 KOs). Germany-based Serbian Licina, 31, floored his opponent with a pair of quick left-right combinations to the head and then finished him off at 2:04 of the very first round with a hard right hand to the chin.

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19-year old Swede Erik Skoglund (6-0, 3 KOs) excelled in frenetic workrate to convincingly outpoint Ukrainian veteran Vladimir Borovskiy (21-42-2, 10 KOs), 33, but failed to expose him in a six-round light heavyweight contest. Skoglund continuously scored with his left jab and added right hands on occasions. He also cut Ukrainian's nosed and left Borovsky with a gash beneath his left eye. However, he just wasn't sharp and powerful enough to give the veteran any significant problems but just cruised to a unanimous decision.

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Cruiserweight David Graf (2-0, 2 KOs) continued his way up in ranks with a second-round TKO over Latvian no-hoper Genadijs Makarenko (1-4-1, 1 KO). The fight was stopped at 2:21 of the stanza by referee David Fleissner following a nice combination by Graf.