'The Cougar' revives career
with Austrian championship!
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27.06.06: 39-year-old
Gotthard
Hinteregger
proved the fighting heart is still very much beating in the old
‘Cougar’ as he came from behind to lift the vacant Austrian
superwelterweight title with a fourth-round stoppage of
previously unbeaten Gojko Knezevic on Sunday night, June 25.
It
was an emotional night for the former IBF/WBO Intercontinental
champion, now 26-10-1 (14 KO’s), who was fighting in Velden,
Austria near his birthplace for the first time in his long
career. Adding to the pressure, Hinteregger, coming off three
straight losses, had to promise retirement to his German manager
Olaf Schroeder in case of another defeat.
Interestingly,
the last man to wear the Austrian superwelter crown was Edip
Secovic (later to also win the European title), who featured
here as Knezevic’ trainer in an attempt to create his own
successor. And the 13 years younger Knezevic, despite never
going more than four rounds before, appeared confident, actually
angering the Hinteregger camp with the threat to take the
veteran’s “head off”. |
At
the first bell he stormed out of his corner and surprised
Hinteregger with all kinds of punches, but Gotti remained calm
– although he almost immediately suffered a cut on the left
eyebrow – safe in the knowledge that Gojko impossibly could
keep up the pace. And so it was. In the second, it became clear
Hinteregger was the better boxer, but he still conceeded the
round as he failed to adequatly reply to Knezevic’ frequent
bursts.
A
clean left hook to the chin actually stunned ‘The Cougar’ in
the third and the younger man frenetically followed up, but
Hinteregger called on all his experience to ride out the storm.
He survived – and that quite possibly broke the younger
man’s heart. Gojko had run out of bullets.
| In
round four, Hinteregger’s boxing skills finally took
over and before long he bloodied his brash opponent’s
nose and mouth. With the round half over, referee Ernst
Salzgeber took Knezevic to his corner to replace his
mouthpiece – and shockingly Knezevic immediately
called it quits!
“It
was great to finally fight at home and win this belt,”
sighted a reliefed Hinteregger, “I want to go back to
the gym now, work hard with my trainer Johann Senfter
and then it’s up to Olaf what’s next. I’m not done
yet and can still learn some new things.” |
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Knezevic
and his trainer Secovic, despite all their pre-fight boasts,
proved to be sour loosers, almost immediately demanding a
rematch. To the amusement of everyone in earsight, Knezevic, now
4-1 (1), claimed towards his conquerors manager Schroeder:
“You know that I would have knocked your guy out in the fifth,
had I not given up before. I gave him a chance to fight me, now
give me the same.” To which Schroeder replied: “Who gave
whom a chance here? You’re a quitter, because the first time
someone punched back at you, you instantly quit like a dog.
There won’t be a rematch ever and you better grow up. I’m
going back to my hotel now, because I don’t need to listen to
this bull.” He probably wore a wide smile on the walk back,
while Hinteregger celebrated to have hung onto his up-and-down
career.
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