03.05.06: Despite
loosing a clear eight-round verdict last Saturday in Stuttgart,
Germany to young, unbeaten Sebastian Zbik, former two-time
Intercontinental champion Gotthard Hinteregger proved
there still is life in the old ‘Cougar’, as the soon-to-be
39-year-old from Vienna is nicknamed. The Austrian, who had
stepped up to middleweight after two stoppage losses in title
fights last year one division below, actually was shut out 80:72
on the cards of two judges, while referee Jürgen Langos was
more generous, marking two rounds even for a 80:74 scoreline.
However,
Hinteregger had prepared very well with Johann Senfter, his
first professional trainer to whom he now returned, and gave the
young upstart Zbik – 15 (!) years his junior – plenty to
think about during the ZDF-televised fight on this Universum
Box-Promotion show. For Zbik, it proved the proverbial great
learning fight that could have been expected, but
‘Gotti’s’ performance was enough to convince his manager
Olaf Schroeder of his charges claim that “I still have a few
things to do in boxing!”. The Fight Production boss, who was
also working in Hinteregger’s corner, said afterwards:
“It
was a strange feeling going to the ring, because I had urged
Gotti to call it a day, only to be talked into this fight by him.
But was he going to show me or were we walking to the
guillotine? Well, under the given circumstances, Gotti performed
very well and actually showed improvements in some areas,
because Johann Senfter prepared him real good. Yes, he lost,”
closed the manager, “but he definitely deserves to try once
more to chase that rainbow and then finish his career in style.”
Schroeder
hinted afterwards at the post-fight party that he wants to work
on Hinteregger returning to the ring as soon as possible, to
which an unmarked ‘Cougar’ replied with a broad smile:
“Maybe you can find someone who’s not as young, unbeaten and
good as Zbik.”
For
the Austrian it was the 10th career loss against 25
wins (1 draw) from 36 starts.
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