Saturday night at the MBS Arena in Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany, Tyron Zeuge (19-0-1, 11 KOs), the unbeaten 24-year-old from Berlin, Germany, TKO’d reigning and defending WBA World super middleweight champion Giovanni De Carolis (24-7-1, 12 KOs), from Viterbo, Lazio, Italy, at 2:41 of the 12 round.

The scores at the time of the stoppage were 106-103 (Jan Christensen) and 105-104 twice (Jesus Morata Garcia and Alfredo Polanco).

Their first fight, at Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin on July 16, ended in a majority draw. Zeuge injured his left arm in the sixth round of the bout but was able to gut it out. He insisted that if he had been injury free, he would have won the fight.

The rematch was also close.

After plenty of back and forth action, Zeuge, fighting out of the blue corner in red trunks, pulled ahead in the last third of the fight. He dropped 32-year-old De Carolis, fighting out of the red corner in gold trunks trimmed in black, with a left and two rights in the final round. The Italian beat the count but his legs were gone, he had nothing left. Zeuge landed another big left hook that drove De Carolis through the ropes. The referee Roberto Ramirez Jr. had no choice but to wave it off with just 19 seconds before the final bell.

Zeuge landed 169 of 689 punches thrown to 136 of 631 for De Carolis.

“I want to congratulate Tyron Zeuge,” said De Carolis after the fight. “He’s a real champ. He was outstanding. I wasn’t at my best, probably. I need to work and I’ll be back.”

Zeuge appreciated the kudos, just as he appreciated the opportunity to fight for the title a second time.

“It’s a dream come true,” he said.

This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.