Abraham wins IBF crown

12/11/2005
Pasadena Star News
Associated Press

LEIPZIG, Germany - Armenia's Arthur Abraham stopped Nigeria's Kingsley Ikeke in the fifth round to win the vacant IBF middleweight title on Saturday.

Abraham improved to 20-0 with 18 knockouts as he took the title vacated by Jermaine Taylor. Ikeke, ranked second by the IBF, fell to 23-2.

"It was his fight, not mine - I couldn't stop him," Ikeke said.

Abraham had no trouble hitting the 6-foot-4 Nigerian. By the fourth round, he was taunting Ikeke, and Abraham's corner told him to stop showing off. In the fifth, Abraham knocked Ikeke into the ropes with a left, and after several more shots the referee pulled him off Ikeke.

"It may not have looked like it tonight, but I think he beat a world-class guy," Abraham's trainer Uli Wegner said.
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