Hard-hitting German heavyweight contender Konstantin Airich returned back home to Hamburg after stopping WBO#6 Ondrej Pala in the ninth round of an exciting brawl in Tekirdag (Turkey) on Friday night. With this win the “Sandman“ added the WBO European championship to the IBF intercontinental championship which he had won by annihilating Varol Vekiloglu in one round in Regensburg (Germany) last October. At the airport Airich was welcomed by his nine-year-old twins Alexia and Max.

“This is the moment I have been fighting and working for”, said proud dad Airich after his arrival. “Once you look into these eyes you know that it’s been worth all the sweat, blood, tears and pain. I had to promise to my son that I will come home with two belts so I have one for each of my kids. I cannot say how proud and happy I am that I managed to keep my word. Now I will take off some time to spend with my family, I think we all earned this.”

When 33-year-old Airich is not fighting he works as a bricklayer or travels around the world as sparring partner. Most recently he has spent four weeks in Austria with both Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko.

His win over Pala should lift Airich into a top 10 position in both WBO and IBF which may open him a door to fight Wladimir Klitschko in a voluntary title defense making his way from a sparring partner to a world title challenger.

“I don’t even want to fantasize about this at the moment”, says Airich. “For the moment I am happy to be back home. I will take my rest and then discuss the next steps with my management. I am sure that we will find the right fight. I can only promise that whoever I face in the ring – I will give it my all and try to win for Alexia and Max!”

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“I am very proud that I can bring another belt home to my son”, said the always exciting IBF #15 rated heavyweight Konstantin “Sandman” Airich after his come-from-behind ninth round TKO over WBO #6 rated Ondrej Pala on Friday night in Tekirdag, Turkey. “I thank everybody who kept on believing in me especially in the hard times I went through – foremost, of course, my family and my coach Hans-Jürgen Witte.” With the win, the German heavyweight added the WBO European championship to his IBF Intercontinental title and will surely move up in the world ratings.

“I am very happy for Konstantin,” says promoter Ahmet Oner. “He is a hard worker who really earned himself this win. After a spectacular performance like this he has bigger paydays coming up. It’s sad for Ondrej Pala that he couldn’t bring home the victory when he was leading on the scorecards but he’s only 27 years old. He will learn from this loss and come back stronger than ever.”

 

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/airich-speaks-after-big-win-109929

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In an upset, 33-year-old German veteran Konstantin Airich sensationally stopped fight favorite Ondrej Pala (30-3, 21 KOs) of the Czech Republic to add Pala’s WBO European heavyweight title to his already owned IBF I/C belt. IBF #15 Airich was losing the fight but he found some inner resources not only to defeat the uncharacteristically slow Pala, but also to resurrect his stagnating career.

WBO #6 Czech, who hasn’t lost for well over five years since his injury-insisted TKO loss to Denis Boytsov, was in firm control of the fight in the opening rounds. Pala was slow and mostly inactive but so was Airich, while Pala’s punches were much sharper and landed flashier on the Kazakh expatriate’s chin. Airich was taking the punch well but he was steadily given an unnecessary diet of leather, which didn’t look good for him. However, he stayed solidly on his feet, and at the end of the third the Czech’s bell was rung, when he was shaken by Airich’s big right hand. The next couple of rounds were once again for Pala, 27, whose strong jab and big right hands were the difference.

It has all changed in the sixth, when Airich landed a huge combination in the center of the ring to wobble Pala badly. The Czech was on the verge of going down but wisely dropped his mouthpiece. Referee Yuri Koptsev did a terrible job of bringing the fighters together and gave the Czech every chance to survive, which he surely did.

Ondrej looked rather good in the seventh but Airich’s confidence was still intact and he began beating Pala to the punch in the eighth. Round nine turned out to be a personal holocaust for the Czech. First, he was pinned to the ropes and ate a number of clean punches, which were enough to stop the contest. However, referee Koptsev gave Pala every chance to survive and took him back to his corner to insert his mouthpiece once again. The Czech was deducted a point, but it wasn’t necessary. Airich immediately went in for the kill and punched an almost senseless Pala until Koptsev stepped in at 1:10 to stop the carnage.

A huge win for Konstantin Airich, who has slowly put his career back on track. Pala is young enough to come back as a serious European contender but he definitely needs to improve his defense. Airich also avenged his majority decision loss to Pala, which took place three years ago.

By Alexey Sukachev

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