Shihepo defeat would KO career, admits Abraham

Germany's former world super-middleweight champion Arthur Abraham admits defeat to Namibia's Willbeforce Shihepo on Saturday night would spell the end of his career. "Another defeat would be a catastrophe. I'd have to quit boxing, that's clear enough," Abraham told German newspaper Die Welt. "That would be bitter, but I would have to accept it, even if it would be damn difficult for me to admit that I no longer belong to the top level. "If I think negatively, I'd have to wrap myself in cotton wool so that nothing happens. But that's not how I worked." Abraham, 33, takes on the 30-year-old Shihepo for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental super middleweight title in Schwerin, 200 kilometres north-west of Berlin. The African has a record of 15 knock-outs from 20 wins with six defeats, the last of which came back in 2009, while Abraham has 28 knock-outs from 26 wins with four defeats from his 40 bouts. Victory for Abraham will bring him a step closer to a third fight against compatriot Robert Stieglitz, who took Abraham's WBO Super-Middleweight belt from him in March when an eye injury saw Abraham suffer a fourth-round technical knock-out. "So long as Stieglitz remains world champion and doesn't offer to fight me, he has to defend his title against me by next summer at the latest" said Abraham, who said he wants his 'pride and honour' back with a second win over Stieglitz, who he beat on a unanimous decision last August before losing the rematch. Source: AFP