Malte Müller-Michaelis

Press chief Malte Müller-Michaelis of Arena Box-Promotion, one of Germany’s premier promotional outfits, spoke to FightFranchise moments after Arena star Steffen Kretschmann controversially quit in the ninth round of his rematch with Russian heavyweight Denis Bakhtov.

German hope Kretschmann 14-2 (13), having been blown away in one round by Bakhtov two fights ago, was looking to restore his pride but after a tough fight, and a knockdown in the ninth round, he decided to call the fight off himself, apparently no longer willing to take punches. Arena C.E.O Ahmet Öner was on the ring apron pleading with his charge to continue, but Kretschmann point-blank refused, and was consequently declared a loser by ninth round TKO.

FF: Hello Malte thanks for your time, first congratulations on this great event last weekend, with the exception of the Steffen Kretschmann controversy of course.

“Thank you, we are content with the event.”

FF: What happened with Steffen? It looked as if he had no more motivation to fight against Bakhtov, the question is why? After the big 4-part documentary in Germany about his preparation and the statements from Steffen that this fight would be his biggest fight.

“I will not speculate what was wrong with Steffen. He decided in the ring that he can’t go on. This is his right as a boxer to stop the fight when he has the feeling he cannot win. He told me that his jab hand was broken. And we have all seen that Bakhtov hits Steffen with hard body hooks. I believe when you lose your breath, you lose your desire too after such hard shots. Steffen started very well, but couldn’t finish the job. That’s a bummer but defeat is a part of the business.”

FF: Has he said anything to you about the fight?

“I said it before, he told me that his left hand is broken, but I didn’t speak any more to him after his visit by the doctor, but I will do this in the next few days.”

Steffen Kretschmann moments before quitting

FF: How does his future now look with Arena? Will there be a comeback from Steffen?

“We will first give Steffen the time to calm down and rest. Fact is we have a contract with Steffen. When and if he does fight again, we organize fights for him. It’s not the philosophy of Arena to boot a boxer out when he loses a fight. The best example is Konstantin Airich, who fights on our next event in Schwerin on April 9. But the final decision is of course made by Steffen. And for that decision he will get all time that he needs.”

FF: So, on April 9  comes the next event from Arena, with the main event being Juan Carlos Gomez vs. Alexander Kahl. What can we expect from this event? The super puncher Robert Woge will fight again in his second pro fight, and the super talented Felix Diaz too right?

“Beside Gomez, Woge, and Diaz I said it before, Konstantin Airich will fight too. I think this will be one more high quality fight night on Eurosport. We try our very best to always keep the level high.”

FF: Your chief Ahmed Öner told us before in the media that it will be very difficult to get Gamboa to come back to Germany to fight again, but have we not got even a little chance of seeing this super fighter one more time here in Germany?

“Unfortunately we must see that as very unlikely from the commercial sector. With the high charges to get a PPV event with HBO, it is a fact that nobody can or will be ready to pay this here in the German TV market. Sure Gamboa is a supreme world-class boxer, but the main market for Gamboa is in the USA, and he get a lot more money over there than here in Germany.”

FF: Malte, again thank you very much for your time, and finally, do have you a message for the readers of Fight Franchise?

“Not especially for the readers of FF, but I have one thing that I must say. It was a joy for me that so many fans on Steffen’s Facebook site gave so much positive feedback after his fight. After the hard time from the media, I find it absolutely great that the German TV viewers gave Steffen so much solace. For this I give my greatest respect.”

No related posts.