On Saturday, Zsolt Erdei defended his WBO light heavyweight title for the fourth time. The 31-year-old Hungarian fighter knocked out former world champion, Mehdi Sahnoune in the final round to end a very exciting clash. In the fight’s fifth and sixth rounds, Sahnoune had Erdei in serious trouble, but the champion showed a lot of heart and came back to win. After the match Erdei and his trainer Fritz Sdunek evaluated the match.

“In this fight I have put everything in and I needed all my strength," stated the unbeaten Erdei, who improved to 23-0 with 14 knockouts. "Unfortunately my preparation was not satisfying as I had hurt a rib which pulled me back during sparring.

"I fought, I gained victory and I showed that Zsolt Erdei has a great heart. Unfortunately I did not show much of my boxing skills, but it was due to the problem that occurred at the time of the preparation.....I am a quick guy but sometimes it throws back. I do not know where I got my power to get over the crisis period, but the point is I made it.

I felt in the first round that there will be a problem with my rib. I hope that in future matches that I would be in a sharper form. One and a half weeks ago we nearly had to cancel the match, because my rib was shot with injections as I had a haematoma, which hurt more than the broken rib itself. I can be proud of myself, but not because I fought well, but because I showed that I have lot of heart.”

Trainer Fritz Sdunek evaluated how he saw his boxer during this dramatic match. "Now we can say that Zsolt got a blow on his rib during his training which caused him serious pain. He wanted to fight by all means. He did not want to cancel the fight again. After the fifth round he had serious pain around his ribs, so we constantly supported him that he should not give up and he can do it. I am very proud of him, because he could overcome his pain and he has made such a great victory.”

Now Erdei gets a month long holiday from Universum Box-Promotion and his next match will probably take place early next year. Many in the Hungarian media are saying it might be a possible unification bout against WBA boss Fabrice Tiozzo.