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HBO Boxing After Dark Recap

March 22, 2008

Morongo Resort & Casino-Cabazon, California

IBF Super Middleweight (168 pounds) 12-Round Championship Eliminator Match:

Librado Andrade (26-1, 20 KO's, 165.5 pounds) vs. Robert Stieglitz (31-1,19 KO's, 166.75 pounds)

Andrade is most well known for being the opponent that Mikkel Kessler used as a human punching en route to his shot at Joe Calzaghe on March 24, 2007 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Kessler won that match on all of the judges' scorecards 120-108. Somewhatmiraculously, Andrade finished the match with no visual marks and without being knockdown. The beating Kessler put on Andrade was so severe that the HBO analysts began talking of the need for the match to be stopped in round 5. In rounds 3 through 5, Kessler out-landed Andrade 94 to 19. Through the first 5 rounds, Andrade demonstrated a nearly iron chin to remain standing as Kessler was connecting on 47% of his power punches. In round 6, the situation got worse for Andrade. Kessler out-landed him in that round 27 to 5. After 8 rounds, Kessler had out-landed Andrade 222 to 63 on total connects, yet amazingly Andrade was still solidly standing. At the end of the match, Andrade had earned himself several big pay checks down the line by showing a potentially legendary ability to take a punch. Kessler hit Andrade 348 total times and 95 of those were power connects. The final numbers had Kessler with more then 250 total punches landed then Andrade and 1 more power punch landed for Kessler then total punches landed for Andrade (94).

The La Habra, California resident's last match was a technical knockout victory at 2:34 of round 7 over Yusaf Mack at the Mandalay Bay resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Andrade won the vacant USBA Championship at 168 pounds in that match. However that title is not at stake in this match, andit appears Andrade has vacated the title to go after the more important IBF Championship.

In the match with Mack, Andrade was knocked down for the first time in his career in round 1 on a punch he never saw. Andrade came back from the knockdown to score 3 knockdowns in round 7 that forced the referee to stop the match.

Andrade is currently ranked by The Ring magazine as the number 5 contender at 168 pounds to its champion in the weight class, Calzaghe.

Stieglitz' is a resident of Germany and this is only his third match outside of Germany as a pro. On October 10, 2006, Stieglitz defeated an American, Eric Howard,who was coming into the match with a record of 11-13-1 at the T-Mobile Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. Stieglitz traveled to the neighboring country to knockout Howard at 2:50 of round 5 in an 8-round contest. Howard was coming in on a 6 match losing streak, where 5 of his last 6 opponents had knocked him out in 6 rounds or less. Since facing Stieglitz, Howard is 0-1 with the loss coming whenHoward's corner decided the boxer's career was over after round 5.

The resident of Germany's other match outside his home country was on June 2, 2007 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That night he won an 8-round unanimous decision over Marlon Hayes. The match appears to have been contracted for 175 pounds, but Hayes missed weight. Hayes missed the weight by 4 pounds, officially weighing 179 pounds for the match. The apparently out of shape Hayes was coming in to the match 2-6. Since facing Stieglitz, Hayes is 0-3.

Stieglitz'last match a 10-round unanimous decision victory over William Gare on October 13, 2007 in Germany. Gare continued Stieglitz' run of beating soft opponents. The South African's record entering the match was a respectable 22-13. However, Gare was 0-5 outside of Africa. Gare was an opponent designed to go rounds with Stieglitz. The South African had never been knocked out and was only down twice in his career. He also, had not knocked out anyone with a winning record since the 8-2-1, Pascal Mtungu, onApril 2, 2000.

Stieglitz is unranked by The Ring, but the number 34 ranked boxer at 168 pounds by boxrec.com.

Stieglitz at 26-years-old is 3 years younger then the 29-year-old Andrade. Andrade has the height advantage standing 6' 2" tall, while Stieglitz is 5' 11" tall. The American boxer has the reach advantage with an arm length of 27" measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, compared to Stieglitz who has a 23" arm length. Stieglitz will have the weight advantage entering the ring. According to HBO's unofficial scales approaching match time he is up to 176 pounds, and Andrade has only rehydrated to 173 pounds following the official weigh-ins. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

California uses a modified version of the unified rules of boxing. The only difference is that both the doctor and referee can stop the match. Under the unified rules of boxing, only the referee can stop the match. These rules will be in effect for the entire event. Two of the judges are from the United States and the other is from Panama. The referee is Ray Corona. During the stare down in the center of the ring before the match it appears there may be a language issue in this match. Stieglitz did not understand the English command to "touch gloves". It will be important to watch in the match how much of the referee's instructions he understands or can follow. Keeping unofficial score for HBO for this event is Harold Lederman.

Andrade wins round 1 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Before the match, Max Kellerman doing color commentary for HBO tried to justify HBO putting 2 boxers of this quality on their air. During round 1, which Andrade dominated, on play-by-play for HBO Bob Papa explained that Andrade never does a lot to impress anyone during a round, it is what he will do throughout the match. Close action packed round 2 that Andrade probably wins, 10-9. Kellerman explained during the round that Andrade's hands go numb when he blocks punches with his gloves. Therefore, he chooses to drop his hands and take the punches with his face and try to roll with them. That means Andrade is blocking the punches with his face and is going to lose a lot of extra rounds that way, when he may not be getting hit that hard. It will forcethe Americanto win by knockout or risk losing most decisions with that strategy. In round 2, Andrade foundsuccess with his right uppercut and has badly bloodied Stieglitz nose by throwing the punch repeatedly. Lederman scores round 2 for Andrade, 10-9. The boxers' feet tangle and Stieglitz goes down to the canvas with 6 seconds to go in round 3. The bell rings to end the round, while the referee is wiping off Stieglitz' gloves. A very close round that Stieglitz may have barely won, 10-9. After 3 rounds, Andrade leads on my scorecard, 29-28. Through 3 rounds, Stieglitz has landed 57 of the 196 total punches he has thrown, for a 29% total connect percentage. Through 3 rounds, Andrade has landed 70 of the 246 total punches he has thrown for a 28% total connect percentage. Lederman scores round 3 for Andrade, 10-9, and hasAndrade winning the match after 3 rounds, 30-27.

Stieglitz wins round 4, 10-9. Stieglitz may be winning rounds, however he appears in far worse shape then Andrade. The native of Russia, alsowins round 4 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Andrade comes on strong at the end of round 5 to take round 5, 10-9. Stieglitz looks very tired at this point. According to CompuBox, Andrade landed 35 total punches in round 5, and 24 of those total connects came in the last minute of the round. Lederman scores round 5 or Andrade, 10-9. Andrade wins round 6, 10-9. The American had Stieglitz hurt badly and covering up at the end of round 6. The bell probably saved Stieglitz from a knockdown there. After 6 rounds, Andrade leads on my scorecard, 58-56. Lederman scores round 6 for Andrade and has him winning the match after 6 rounds, 59-55.

Stieglitz may have won a close round 7, 10-9. Lederman awards round 7 to Andrade, 10-9. Andrade has Stieglitz pinned up against the ropes andlands hard body shots on the Russian native, before landing a big left-right combo thatsend Stieglitz stumbling across the ring hurt badly with 1:17 to go in round 8. Andrade quickly follows up and forces the referee to step in to save the still standing Stieglitz with 1:09 to go in round 8.

The official outcome from the official voice of the UFC, Bruce Buffer is: at1:53 of round the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout, Librado Andrade. The win moves Andrade to 27-1 with 21 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Andrade landing 216 of the 600 total punches he threw, for a 36% connect percentage. Andrade landed 184 of the 464 power punches he threw, for a 40% power connect percentage. Stieglitz landed 154 of the 527 total punches he threw, for a 29% total connect percentage. The resident of Germany landed 132 of the 349 power punches he threw, for a 38% power connect percentage.

With the win Andrade is now the mandatory challenger to the 168 pound title held by Lucian Bute.Andrade looked much better here, then in his loss to Kessler. However, there is still a Grand Canyon sized gap in skills betweenAndrade and the two elite boxers at 168 pounds, Kessler and Calzaghe. Andrade did not show anything in this match that would foster the belief he could ever beat Kessler or Calzaghe. However, Andrade has a phenomenal ability to take a punch and could potentially beat anyone else in the division if he continues to improve at this pace.

Stieglitz was dominated in this match, and does not appear to have elite talent. He is still very young, and could do with a lot of seasoning back in Europe. Stieglitz is years away from contending for a title not held by Calzaghe or Kessler.

This show was a lot of fun to watch in its entirety. However, the first match belonged as the main event of a ShoBox event and was not the usual caliber of an HBO boxing match.