Stieglitz-Ornelas: Battle for the other other 168-pound belt

By Mark Ortega

Tomorrow night in Germany, depending on how you look at it, a somewhat important bout is taking place in the super middleweight division. WBO 168-pound champion Robert Stieglitz [38-2, 23 KOs] is set to make the third defense of his title against tough gatekeeper Enrique Ornelas [30-6, 20 KOs] in a fight that could potentially lead to a payoff against IBF champion Lucian Bute who just signed a three-fight deal with Showtime.
Stieglitz, who weighed in today at 168, won the title with an impressive TKO11 over the then-undefeated Karoly Balzsay in August of 2009 and has since made two defenses against pedestrian opposition. In Ornelas, he will meet an opponent who is likely getting his only shot at a world title and will have something to build upon coming off a loss against Bernard Hopkins in which he looked much better than he has in the past.

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Photo courtesy of Eroll Popova


Another interesting plot to this fight is that Stieglitz’ most recent defeat came at the hands of Librado Andrade in his only appearance on American television, an HBO Boxing After Dark co-feature to the excellent Joel Casamayor-Michael Katsidis clash from March of 2008. Andrade is the brother of Enrique Ornelas, so this could be a case of the German trying to get revenge for an earlier defeat. Like the old saying goes, if you can’t beat him, find the less skilled brother and beat him instead.

read more at http://www.undisputedfightmag.com/2010/11/19/stieglitz-ornela/