Istvan Kovacs shocks undefeated
Argentinian
(Hamburg, 20 February 1999)
Hungarian Istvan Kovacs, the 1996 Olympic Gold medallist in the
bantamweight division, stopped previously undefeated Mario Nestor Cabello
from Argentina with a flurry of punches in the second round.
The fight took place on the undercard of Vitali Klitschko's second defense
of his European heavyweight title in the sold out Alsterdorfer Sporthalle in
Hamburg.
Kovacs, who is considered one of the most successful Amateur boxers out of Europe ever, taunted his opponent in the first round and used his reflexes to avoid the punches of his Argentinian opponent. Half a minute into the second round Kovacs connected with a hard right hand to the head and followed with a
combination that rocked Cabello deeply and dropped him to the canvas.
The Argentinian was unable to get up before the referee reached the count
of ten at 47 seconds into the second round.
The 28 year old Istvan Kovacs improved his record to 11-0 with 5KO´s.
Cabello dropped to 11-1 with 8 KO´s.
Kovacs, who is ranked number 6 in Europe, will fight in his hometown of
Budapest in Hungary on 22 May. He will fight either for an intercontinental
title or the European crown that was just vacated by former champion Paul Ingle
for the chance to fight Naseem Hamed.
As an Amateur Kovacs compiled a record of 282 wins, 14 losses and one draw.
Thomas Ulrich messes up Ali
Saidi
In another fight exciting up and coming German light heavyweight champion
Thomas Ulrich gave the seasoned Ali Saidi a high ammount of punishment until
the referee intervened at 1:16 into the 8th round. The 23 year old Ulrich, now
15-0 (12 KO´s), a Bronze medallist of Atlanta, hurt the tough Saidi, who
had gone the distance against Mike McCallum, Sven Ottke and Lou del Valle, in
every round with hard punches from all angles to the head and hooks to the liver. In the seventh Saidi also received a standing-8 count.
The athletic 6 feet 1 Ulrich is holding the German and the International
German title in the 175 lbs division. He is ranked number 6 in Europe. Reigning
European light heavyweight champion is the Brit Crawford Ashley.
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