ROBERT STIEGLITZ vs EDUARD GUTKNECHT

Robert Stieglitz has looked a much-improved fighter in his last two bouts, stopping Karoly Balzsay in an upset to win the WBO super middle title, then walking through Ruben Acosta, of Argentina, in a championship defence. Yet just 16 months ago Stieglitz had great difficulty in defeating Lukas Wilaschek, who hasn’t boxed since.

On Saturday, Stieglitz meets his former gym mate Eduard Gutknecht in a title defence in Stieglitz’s hometown of Magdeburg.

The two are on friendly terms but sometimes boxers who like each other produce exciting fights, such as the welterweight war that saw Simon Brown stop Maurice Blocker.

The Russian-born Stieglitz has far greater experience, but Gutknecht was an international-class amateur who was a world junior championships silver medallist. He defeated Cuban Olympic silver medallist Emilio Correa in an international tournament in Germany.

A tall, technically sound boxer, Gutknecht scored his biggest win in his last fight when he won a split decision over former WBO champion Karoly Balzsay.

Form would seem to favour Stieglitz as he had stopped Balzsay on a corner retirement after 10 rounds on his opponent’s home ground in Hungary four months earlier. Yet Balzsay was well winning the fight until he suddenly ran out of stamina. I believe that Balzsay had to lose a lot of weight before the fight with Stieglitz and he might have been better-conditioned for his bout with Gutknecht. So maybe the form line is a little deceiving.

I noted that Gutknecht fought with “real authority, like the fighter who knows he’s in charge” against Balzsay. My notes reminded me that Gutknecht “sometimes measures and probes with the left hand, but he gets in some stiff jabs, shoots in right hands through the middle... shows a good chin”. It was always a cut and thrust, competitive fight but I had Gutknecht sweeping the last five rounds.

The Kazakhstan-born Gutknecht is 28 and seems to be one of those boxers who suddenly find themselves after not being particularly impressive earlier in their professional careers. He is unbeaten, and he is the house fighter on this Universum promotion. Universum is rolling the dice in this fight, but the promotional powerhouse believes Gutknecht is ready, and I tend to agree.

Stieglitz is strong and steady, and he has to be considered a clear favourite, but he is not known to be a particularly hard hitter and he isn’t what one would call an outstanding boxer. This looks like being a long, hard fight but I feel it is one that Gutknecht can win. I think he can stand up to Stieglitz’s pressure and score points with his accurate punching. I’m going with Gutknecht by close decision.