BoxRec

Former Olympic Gold Medalist Muhammad Abdulaev, 12-1 (10), returned to action for the first time since his shock loss to Emmanuel Clottey when he scored a fourth round TKO over Rumania's Marian Leondraliu on the Nelson-Petkovic bill in Germany.
Abdualaev beat Miguel Cotto and Kelson Pinto en route to his gold medal at Sydney in 2000. His opponent, Leondraliu, shocked the previously unbeaten David Burke in Liverpool a couple of years back with a stoppage win.

Good to see Abdulaev back. I take it he will now be basing himself out of Germany.

Lets hope that he has mastered watching a ref's count and in future rises in time to avoid count out losses!!

I really rate him and don't see the loss as that big a deal - he can still become a serious force at world level.
The only thing that bothers me is whether this level of opponent is indicative of what will happen with his match-making if he is based in Germany. I fully understand the need to face a relatively easy opponent on the comeback trail, but this seemed like a really big backward step.

I saw Abdullaev impressively dismantle Philip Holiday and i knew he could make waves, his age may be a problem at 31 but he may get decent fights now he has signed with Universum in Germany. Ignore the defeat it was a case of misjudging the count.