Boxing: Arthur Abraham, Steve Cunningham and Eddie Chambers Pick Up Weekend Wins

This week was all about comebacks featuring two former title challengers in desperate need of a victory and a champion looking to reestablish himself as the number one cruiserweight in the world.

Saturday, former IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (31-2, 25 KOs) and current IBF cruiserweight champion Seve Cunningham (23-2, 12 KOs) both returned to the ring in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Cunningham successfully defended the title by outpointing Enad Licina (19-2) over twelve rounds. The bout, which was originally schedule for a January date, was relatively one sided throughout. The scores were 118-110, 117-110 and 115-113.

Later that evening, Arthur Abraham beat Stjepan Bozic (24-4) in the second round after Bozic fractured his left hand on a punch landed on the German's elbow. Bozic winced in pain and the referee called a stop the bout soon after.

Abraham appeared to be in top form, although he didn't get a chance to show it. This coming after a lackluster 2010, which saw him drop two fights in the Super Six Middleweight Tournament against Andre Dirrell and Carl Froch. He started faster than usual and attacked the body and head of Bozic viciously in the second round before the stoppage.

Abraham's next fight will be against Andre Ward in the Super Six semi-finals. Ward is 23-0 and considered one of the top boxers in the sport. Only time will tell if Abraham is ready to fight against the best the super middleweight division has to offer. 2010 showed he wasn't, but 2011 can be a different story.

Friday evening featured a IBF Heavyweight Eliminator match between Eddie Chambers (36-2, 18KOs) and Derric Rossy (26-2, 14 KOs). Rossy was seeking redemption over a fighter that defeated him in 2007. His hope was short-lived, and Chambers took home a competitive unanimous decision with the scores 120-107, 117-110 and 115-112.

Chambers was rebounding from a devastating knockout loss versus IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in his lone fight of 2010, while Rossy was riding a seven fight win streak.

After a slow start to the bout, Chambers opened up during the second half of the fight and floored Rossy in the sixth round with an overhand right. Rossy stayed busy throughout and showed heart, but Chamber's slick counter punching and movement proved too much for him in the later rounds.

Chambers will be looking for another future title shot down the road and this was an important fight for him even if it didn't mean much in terms of moving up the rankings. His only other loss is to the undefeated Russian star Alexander Povetkin.