Arena Boxing in Voelklingen, Germany. Kretschmann Exposed, Hide Victorious.

In a massive upset last night in Voelklingen, Germany previously unbeaten German heavyweight champion Steffen Kretschmann (13 / 1 / 12 Ko's) was knocked out in the very first round by the extremely dangerous Russian veteran Denis Bakhtov (30 / 5 / 19 Ko's.) Kretschmann started very aggressively and tried furiously to get Bakhtov out of there early, but while weathering the assault Denis threw some serious desperate leather of his own, and clipped the unbeaten prospect high on the temple in his own corner staggering Steffen. The referee at first thought the 6 ft 5 Kretschmann had slipped on an advertising logo on the canvas and waved the action on but seconds later another heavy assault collapsed Kretschmann who rose at 7 but was all at sea. Steffen was in no way fit to continue and was devastated when the referee called the fight off with mere seconds left in the round. Denis has done this kind of upset stunt before when he visited the Uk to box Matt Ellis several years ago and handed the Briton one of his rare losses at the time in what was a rematch of which Ellis easily dominated their first meeting. Bakhtov is ranked however by the WBA at number 14. Kretschmann looked ill prepared and over hyped and is in my humble opinion in dire need of far more exposure to serious competition if he is in any way wanting to make a future in the division. He crumbled at the first sign of competitive return fire. Bakhtov retained his PABA heavyweight title in the process.

On the undercard the saga of former WBO heavyweight champion Herbie Hides assault on the cruiserweights continued as he completely manhandled Gabor Halasz (26 / 13 / 10 Ko's) for 3 horribly savage rounds where the Hungarian club fighter was mauled, cut, dropped numerous times before eventually being completely flattened by a lethal two punch combination by Hide (a left hook and a stiff right hand) thrown with menacing intentions by the number 2 (WBO & WBC 48 / 4 / 43 Ko's) ended the proceedings about a round later than i would have allowed this fight to have absurdly continue. Hide is impressive but needs a tough championship fight fast as this monthly beating of outclassed clubfighters is eroding his obvious skills. Hide is resorting to brutal bullying and hardly uses any of his talents in every outing, i have no question that he could provide a stern test for anyone including the beltholders at Cruiserweight at the minute. Herbie looks bored and without stimulus and it would be in the interest of all concerned if some kind of motivational match be made to bring Hide's potential out against someone of note. Herbie is getting older by the day and looks like a man almost tapping his fingers on a table waiting for his chance to shine at top level once again.