Abraham defends world title with technical knock-out

World super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham defended his WBO belt on Saturday with an eighth round technical knock-out win over France's Mehdi Bouadla in Nuremberg. Abraham, 32, defended his World Boxing Organisation belt for the first time since his unanimous victory over compatriot Robert Stieglitz in August which crowned him world champion for the second time. The win over Bouadla was the 36th of his career and the 28th knock-out in his 39th fight as the bout was stopped after two minutes 11 seconds of the eighth round by referee Mark Nelson. "I am really pleased to have fought in Nuremberg, I started my career here," said Abraham. "You can't have a better feeling than to fight here in front of 10,000 fans. He fought hard until the end." Having previously defended his IBF middleweight title 10 times between 2005 and 2009, Abraham had few problems against the 30-year-old Frenchman. "Abraham was as strong as I expected, he deserves to be champion," said Bouadla. This was his fifth defeat in 30 professional fights against 26 wins, 11 by knock-out. The champion opened by putting together some good combinations in the first two rounds. After catching Boudla with a strong right in the fourth, Abraham finished the round by pinning the challenger to the ropes and the Frenchman was left with a bloody nose. Berlin-based Abraham kept up the pressure and landed several right-left combinations towards the end of the fifth. Abraham dropped the tempo in the sixth round and Bouadla made a bright start to the seventh round, but Abraham launched a fierce assault with 90 seconds left, landing a huge right hand. The referee called the ring doctor to look at a cut over the Frenchman's right eye at the end of the round, but Bouadla was allowed to box on. But with blood streaming down his face, Abraham rocked him repeatedly with a rain of blows before Nelson stepped in towards the end of the eighth round to stop the fight.