On a night that was overshadowed by the giant WBF show in South Africa, undefeated German-Turk Hizni Altunkaya almost silently arrived on the world stage by capturing the interim version of the WBF world cruiserweight title via a clear, unanimous decision over German-Italian Daniel Knieps in Neuwied, Germany on Saturday (Nov. 19).
Both fighters went into their first scheduled 12-rounder with unblemished records: Altunkaya was 18-0 (11) while the 22-year-old Knieps arrived with a perfect 29-0 (14) log. In the end, the sheer physical force of the 23-year old hometown favourite was too much for the lighter Knieps (who was born as Salvatore Aiello) to handle. He never made things easy for Hizni, but over the distance one could see why Knieps spend most of his career at lightheavyweight.
After a clean fight which rendered Luxembourg referee Tonio Tiberi almost redundant, ‘The Warrior’ Altunkaya was relieved and said:
“It was hard, and I felt up until the end that I had to do more. I was afraid it was close.”
It wasn’t. Both Arnold Golger (Germany) and Dominique Schmit (Luxembourg) had it 119:109 while Jean Marcel Nartz (Germany) was more generous to Knieps with his 117:111 score.
The show was promoted by Hizni’s brother, and former pro himself, Turhan Altunkaya’s outfit Punch Up Boxing, who also handle WBF Intercontinental cruiserweight champion Ben Nsafoah.
Earlier in the evening, Ilunga Makabu had captured the full version of the WBF world title on the other side of the globe in South Africa and the World Boxing Federation has now ordered Makabu to meet Altunkaya within the next nine months to determine the sole cruiserweight ruler.
