German middleweight contender Mike Keta stopped Mikheil Khutsishvili from Georgia in seven rounds on Saturday in Munich to claim the vacant EPBC middleweight championship. 1,000 fans at sold out Kickboxen-Deutschland-Gym saw an all-action fight from the opening bell in which both fighters had their moments.
Keta had the better start putting a lot of pressure on Khutsishvili connecting with hard right hooks. But the 25-year-old Georgian didn’t back up and kept on fighting back landing some good shots of his own throughout the fight.
Both guys went toe to toe exchanging hard hands. In the third round Keta dropped Khutsishvili with a nice combination. But the Georgian beat the count and came back strong. Keta seemed to run a little out of gas in the six round and Khutsishvili landed some hard hands. But the 31-year-old German came back in the seventh and floored his opponent with a hard hook to the liver. Khutsishvili tried to beat the count again but was unable to continue.
“It was a great fight by two great warriors”, said promoter Jonny Keta after the bout. “It was an epic battle. Mike did a great job and deserved the win. But his opponent was very strong, too, and definitely wanted to take the belt home to Georgia.”
With this victory Keta crowned himself the first ever EPBC middleweight champion. The Eurasian Pacific Boxing Council has been founded this year to strengthen the cooperation between Europe, Asia and the Pacific region. The regional federation is officially affiliated with the WBC.
