Boxing
Professional boxer Gualtieri loses world title in the USA
Professional boxer Vincenzo Gualtieri (r) lost his world title again. photo
© Roberto Pfeil/dpa
Professional boxer Vincenzo Gualtieri actually wants to win his second title in the USA. But things turn out differently than planned.
The German professional boxer Vincenzo Gualtieri has lost the IBF middleweight world title. With the chance of a second World Cup success in a unification fight, the Wuppertaler lost in the USA the WBO title holder Schanibek Alimchanuli from Kazakhstan.
Near Houston in Texas, the 30-year-old lost to his favored opponent by technical knockout in the sixth round. Referee David Fields stopped the fight after several series of punches from the Kazakh and Gualtieri no longer resisted.
“A little early”
“He was better today. But I think it was just a little early,” said Gualtieri, referring to the defeat before halftime of the fight. Gualtieri could have become the first German boxer after his idol Max Schmeling in 1931 to win a world championship fight in the USA.
Opponent Alimchanuli became amateur world champion in 2013. The 30-year-old had previously won all 14 of his professional duels, nine by knockout. Gualtieri had 21 wins and one draw before the fight.
In his hometown of Wuppertal at the beginning of July, Gualtieri surprisingly beat the favored Brazilian boxer Esquiva Falcao and thus secured the previously vacant IBF world title for the first time.