By Frank Bleydorn, www.12rounds.de 
Photos By Stefan Peine

17.01.06: Richel Hersisia can still look forward to a rewarding future. The 31-year-old heavyweight defeated experienced Brazilian Rogerio Lobo on points Saturday night (14.01) at the Ballhaus-Arena in Aschersleben, Germany.

In the early stages of the fight, however, Hersisia had more trouble than most boxing experts expected. His South American opponent showed himself well-prepared for the confrontation and knew how to avoid the actions of Hersisia, who boxed from the ring center.

Though the Dutchman always pressured with his lead left, he could not slow down his opponent. In the second round, the Brazilian effectively countered with quick lefts and rights to slightly rattle Hersisia. But in round three he was back on top and scored with quality right hooks.

As the fight wore on, most of Lobo’s activities ended up on his opponents gloves. Going forward, the charge of manager Olaf Schroeder upped the pace and became more dangerous, especially with left hooks to the body. The 34-year-old South American was backed up to the ropes more and more.

In round five, Hersisia got penalized one point by referee Arno Pokrandt for a low blow and duely increased the pressure towards the end of the fight in order not to endanger his victory. Often times, Lobo found himself against the ropes and had to swallow several hard right-hand blows.

At the end, Richel Hersisia collected a unanimous decision. Initially, the scores were added up incorrectly and announced as a “2:1-win” for the Dutchman, but soon after the mistake was corrected. “I must admit I was far from my best, so I’m just happy to have won tonight”, Hersisia said after his 27^th win (21 by knockout) against a solitary loss.