Two semi-significant fights take place in Europe (plus one more) this Saturday. Former two division titlist Arthur Abraham (45-5, 30 KOs) returns against Robin Krasniqi (46-4, 17 KOs) in Germany while a potential action fight between two multiple time title challengers will go down in England between Martin Murray (34-4-1, 16 KOs) and Gabriel Rosado (23-10, 13 KOs).
Martin Murray isn’t a young 34, but Gabriel Rosado is an extremely old 31. Rosado has taken some real beatings in his career from really big punchers like Alfredo Angulo, Gennady Golovkin, David Lemiuex, and Peter Quillin. He showed tremendous heart in every one of these fights, but he was just out gunned and beaten down. He has also been outboxed in less exciting efforts against the likes of Jermell Charlo and Willie Monroe. These are guys who succeeded in not engaging him in a war, but had Rosado had it his way they would have. With ten losses and his best wins (against Jesus Soto Karass and Sechew Powell) five years ago and one weight class down, it is hard to imagine that Rosado still has something to offer the 2017 middleweight division other than some entertainment. Thankfully, that is what he and Murray are likely to make together: entertainment.
Martin Murray is a come forward fighter who probably should be at least a former world titlist at this point. In 2011 after stopping the very hard to stop (and ultimately tragic) Nick Blackwell, Murray went to Germany to fight Felix Sturm for a title. I thought we won that fight, but the judges called it a draw and it was very competitive. Two years later he went to Argentina to fight pound for pound elite and division kingpin Sergio Martinez on enemy soil. This was probably the best performance of his career given his opposition, and he had an argument in the end on very close cards. 2015 brought two title shots for Murray, first a stoppage loss to pound for pound great GGG, but then he went up to super middleweight and back to Germany. There he fought on even terms with titlist Arthur Abraham, but once again he did not get the cards. None of the three decisions were an outright robbery, but given that he could have been given any one of them on enemy soil and wasn’t, it is hard to not think of him as someone who probably should have had a belt at some point in the four title era.
Murray should beat Rosado even if he is a little past it at this point as probably demonstrated by a somewhat listless wide decision loss to George Groves last summer, but I am worried about his weight. In that Groves fight he really struggled to make super middleweight. For this fight he is going back down to middleweight. He has not fought there since his 2015 loss to Golovkin. If he comes into this fight dehydrated, weak, and drained, Gabriel Rosado suddenly can become a live underdog. Either way, it should be a good fight.
Less good is the event in Germany. Robin Krasniqi is a competent pro fighter. He started 1-2 before tallying off 37 consecutive wins in Germany to get to a 2012 world title shot against Nathan Cleverly in the UK. There on world level he was easily outpointed. Four more wins got him back in a world title fight against Juergen Braehmer and this time he was stopped late. He is a fine fighter, but he is not able to compete on the highest international levels.
A star in his adoptive home of Germany, Abraham has won so many fights on levels higher than Krasniqi that this fight feels like something barely worth monitoring. He has proven to be an echelon below the elites at his weight, but Abraham is a really good fighter. He is aging and has his weaknesses in how willing he is to cover up and give away rounds, but against Krasniqi level opponents, that sort of limited European title level, Abraham’s power always tells in the end. Plus, given his monetary value in Germany, he will win a close decision if it comes to that.
Murray/Rosado will be on Sky Sports in the UK and is supported by a British super middleweight title bout between Rocky Fielding (23-1, 13 KOs) and John Ryder (24-3, 12 KOs). Fielding was on a good run before being blasted out surprisingly easily against top prospect Callum Smith and figures to be the favorite here.
Abraham/Krasniqi will air on MDR in Germany and is supported by 18-0 (11 KOs) German heavyweight Tom Schwarz against 18-1 (6 KOs) Bosnian Adnan Redzovic. I won’t pretend to know anything about these two, but Schwarz is only 22 and is in a great country in his native Germany if he is to become something in heavyweight boxing.
