Ceremony of weighting Arthur Abraham and Robert Steiglitz takes place

YEREVAN, JULY 17, ARMENPRESS. The ceremony of weighting Arthur Abraham and his German rival Robert Steiglitztook place in Germany. Arthur Abraham weights 76 kg and Robert Steiglitz - 75.9. The 4th bout between Arthur Abraham and Robert Stieglitz will take place in Halle, Germany on July 18. As Armenpress reports, it will be broadcast on SAT1 and on Public TV Company of Armenia at 00:20 Armenian time.

Arthur Abraham is an Armenian-German professional boxer residing in Berlin. Abraham is the former IBF Middleweight Championfrom 2005 to 2009, making ten successful defences of his title, the fourth most in middleweight history. He is the current WBO Super Middleweight Champion. Arthur Abraham was born in Yerevan on 20 February 1980 to parents Grigor and Sylvia Abrahamyan. His family members call him "Avo", short for Avetik. His little brother, Alexander, is also a professional boxer and his older brother, Christian, owns a furniture shop. He moved to Germany with his parents and brothers at the age of 15. He became a citizen of Germany in August 2006. As a teenager, Abraham showed an interest in cycling. He became the North Bavarian and Franconian Youth Champion. However, after watching an exciting Mike Tyson fight, Arthur was inspired by Tyson's intensity and wanted 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. Arthur has a fiancé in Armenia.

Abraham plans on opening a boxing school in Armenia following his future retirement. He will also have foreign language classes for students at the boxing school, such as English and German. "If a boxer knows no foreign language, he cannot have success internationally," Abraham noted.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. His final amateur record was 81-3-6 (48 KO). 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. Abraham started his professional career on August 16, 2003, being promoted by HyeFighters. Sauerland-promoted Abraham had many impressive early victories. He defeated Canadian southpaw Ian Gardner (18–1) for the vacant WBAInter-Continental Middleweight title, Hector Velazco (former WBO Champion) and contender Nader Hamdan (36–1). 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.

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. 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. 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 (final result: 114:109, 115:109, 116:109). 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 ArmenianKhoren Gevor by 11th round knockout from a powerful left hook. On 8 December 2007, Abraham defeated Wayne Elcock to make his sixth title defense by technical knockout in the 5th round.