By: Ste Rowen
In Offenburg, Germany’s Baden-Arena, Rocky Fielding became the new WBA ‘Regular’ super middleweight champion after stopping the previously unbeaten, Tyron Zeuge with an impressive 5th round stoppage.
Before tonight Zeuge was 22-0-1 (12KOs) and knew he was in with a arguably his toughest opposition to date but, after a jittery opening minute and a half, both fighters began to show intent, though the quality was lacking, throwing ambitious hooks that put a block on the others attack rather than do any damage.
In recent performances, Zeuge has had success from leading off the jab to setup his offence, but in the early rounds neither boxer seemed very interested in anything other than attempting to throw power punches from all angles.
The fight remained close heading into the 4th, although the German looked to be having slightly more success. Fielding, who trains alongside the likes of Carl Frampton and Martin Murray, under the tutelage of Jamie Moore & Nigel Travis, appeared, for the time being at least, comfortable fighting off the back foot. But as the cliché goes, you have to rip the belt from the champion. Especially when the belt holder is fighting on home turf in his 6th defence.
With a minute left of round 4 the challenger sensed this and kicked it up a notch. Rocky landed quickfire combinations forcing, Zeuge onto the backfoot and eventually the ropes. The champion survived until the bell, but for the first time tonight he clearly looked in a lot of discomfort.
Into the 5th and Fielding was clearly on top and enjoying himself, shooting off more of those left and right combinations, which not only took a toll on Tyron, but also killed off the early atmosphere the home crowd attempted to bring.
With 30 seconds left of round 5, Rocky landed a massive left uppercut which left his opposition visibly shaken. The challenger wasted no time in going in for the finisher, landing simultaneously with another left-hand uppercut and body shot sending the now, former champ, down and keeping him there, bringing an end to the bout, meaning Rocky Fielding was now the new, WBA ‘Regular’ super middleweight champion of the world.
‘’It feels amazing. The fact that I come to the champion’s backyard and stopped him. Everything Jamie (Moore) said was on point. I broke him down. Jamie said, the first six and we’ll see where he’s at.’’
‘’He (Zeuge) likes to fall in but he doesn’t do nothing. When he’s in close, he’ll just tap. When we were up close it was like 1-2 ‘bang’ around the side and he wasn’t firing back and that’s what finished him.’’
‘’This was my chance. What do I do after here if nothing happens? This is my dream…The distractions are gone and once I get my mind clear I had that fear factor and I’m switched on.’’
Now 27-1 (15KOs), the post-fight interview turned to what was next for England’s newest champion, although the Liverpudlian seemed unsure if there was a rematch clause in place,
‘’I’d like to defend it in the Echo Arena in my home city, but I doubt Tyron Zeuge will want to take me on again. I’ll have a rest and after a few weeks sit down with my team and see what the plan is.’’
‘’I just want to embrace this for a bit.’’
