Party crasher in Orlando: Abass Baraou beat Yoenis Tellez on points and secured the WBA interim belt.
Germany has another boxing world champion! Abass Baraou defeated the highly-rated Cuban Yoenis Tellez on points in a thrilling 12-round battle in Orlando on Saturday to secure the interim WBA half-middleweight title.
The Oberhausen native has been considered one of the greatest hopes of German professional boxing for years, but his path to the top was rocky: after the controversial defeat to Jack Culcay in 2020, disputes with promoters and the coronavirus pandemic, his career seemed to stall at times. However, Baraou persevered, sought new impetus in England and the USA and worked his way back to the top of the world rankings.
Last year, he won the European Championship belt and boxed his way to number one in the WBA rankings. Baraou was considered the underdog against Tellez, the 25-year-old shooting star and protégé of promoter Jake Paul. But in Orlando he fearlessly faced up to the US hype and became a party crasher.
Baraou: “A World Cup double header with Kabayel, that would be a dream.”
“When I heard ‘And the new…’, I was simply relieved,” said Baraou in an interview with sport.de. “I was in a foreign country, at a foreign event. I thought they would do everything they could to make sure their boxer won. But the verdict was in my favor – that’s when I knew: it was worth it, it wasn’t a crazy dream.”
His key to victory was a mixture of experience and discipline: “I’ve fought many tough fights over twelve rounds, learned from them and always questioned myself critically. This time I was relaxed and built up the pressure in a calculated manner. In the twelfth round, I realized that Tellez was broken – that’s when the killer instinct kicked in.”
The fact that he could soon become the regular WBA world champion makes him particularly proud: “I always believed that I would become world champion, even if it was difficult. Now I want to defend the title – and box in Germany at some point. A world championship doubleheader with Agit Kabayel in Oberhausen, that would be a dream.”
Text by Robin Josten