I'd say he is. If he wins the rubber match against Stieglitz I'd love to see him rematch Dirrell but they won't risk it.
stieglitz occupies the second tier of elite smw fighters, and abraham was stopped by the guy, so he's pretty much done. he still has the option of rematching stieglitz and, if he won, perhaps lobbying to fight the loser of kessler-froch 2, especially if the loser is kessler. that's a super 6 matchup we never got to see that would do serious buys in europe. who knows, maybe andre dirrell can have another crack at him. if abraham chooses to go on, none of this is out of the question.
I think he just came out cold, Stieglitz fought him the absolute best way to approach Arthur and he was unlucky that a punch so early did that much damage to his eye i mean that could have just been a fluke Abraham is still a live dog in a 3rd fight but honestly he has been figured out and the formula is there for any fighter to use, just gotta steer clear of the power
The thing about Arthur Abraham is that he stays in the Turtle defense and when an opponent is finished their attack, they are out of the way. It's flurry, step back out, come in flurry repeat. The speedy fighter with footwork has an advantage. [yt]dbTCxnspLwk[/yt]
Retirement, AA is done and has been for a while, not a fan of the word exposed but thats exactly what has happened, his confidence along with the aura he once carried has been on a steady decline since moving upto super middle. He isnt nearly as shot as people pretend, just exposed as the blown up, one dimensional middleweight he is.
Lets just say he won't get two more wins against top 10 opponents and will be lucky to get one before he retires. So if that counts.
Nothing fluky about that victory because AA always seems to come out cold, we finally saw a fighter that didnt respect the power he carries and went to work early when AA is usually warming up. The swelling to the eye was a combination of AA giving ground by moving back in a predictable line and Stieglitz being able to maneuver him into the corner far to easily. Stieglitz then unloaded a hard combination of punches that caused the initial swelling whilst AA was trapped, hence the desperate attempt to hold.
Personally at a world stage hes always been to small for 168 and I respected him for stepping up when he could have stayed at 160 and sit on his belt like many "German" champions before him If and only if he can still make 160 safely he has mountains of prospects there David Lemieux - Nice comeback fight Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam - Former world champion and a good test Felix Sturm - Still a possibility despite the losses to Geale and Soliman Mathew Macklin / Martin Murray / Darren Barker - A win gets him into title contention Daniel Geale - IBF world championship (bill it as a fight for Arthurs old belt) Sam Soliman / Anthony Mundine - Easy defence Julio Cesar Chavez - Former world champion (arguably 2nd best 160 fighter) Sergio Martinez - Number one world Middleweight
His career as a 168 pound fighter is over. Based on the results, it might have been over about the time it started. Funny how looking back he was considered a legitimate contender for the Super Six crown. IF he can cut back down to 160, he might be able to compete below the championship level. If he can not drop the weight, he should retire.
This Im a huge fan of Abraham, hes an exciting fighter when he opens up and is a gentleman outside of the ring Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut If you take a certain amount of rounds to warm up and your opponent can take advantage of that then its your own damn fault A load of respect for Stielglitz, he came back from early defeats to Andrade and Berrio to become a world champion after losing his belt to Abraham and now puts himself in a position to fight Groves, Degale, Froch, Kessler, Ward . . . . pretty much anyone. I just hope he doesnt sit on his belt and defend it against guys who Ive never heard of