Arthur Abraham retained his WBO super middleweight belt with a split decision win over Martin Murray of England on Saturday night.
Two judges awarded it 115-112, 116-111 in favor of the Armenian-born German, while one scored it 115-112 to Murray, who was the busier fighter throughout, producing more body shots and forcing Abraham on the back foot for long periods.
Between rounds, Abraham's coach Ulli Wegner pleaded with his fighter to "do more."
The defending champ improved, catching Murray with a huge right in the seventh round. Murray returned the favor in the next, when Abraham did well to make the bell, but the challenger's hopes took a blow in the 11th when he had a point deducted for holding with Abraham in the ascendancy.
"He was a world class boxer, he was a sandbag, but we were better tactically and combatively," said Abraham, who improved to 44-4 (29 KOs) after defending his title for the fifth time.
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Murray dropped to 32-3-1 (15 KOs).
The bout took place amid increased security measures following the attacks in Paris last Friday and the threat of attacks that caused the cancellation of Germany's soccer friendly with the Netherlands in Hannover on Tuesday.
