Arthur Abraham, THE RING's No. 1-rated middleweight contender, defended his IBF title for the ninth time by out-pointing previously unbeaten challenger Lajuan Simon in a competitive 12-round bout in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany on Saturday night.

Abraham (29-0, 23 KOs) won a unanimous decision by scores of 118-109 and 117-110 (twice). Lujuan (21-1-2, 12 KOs), an unheralded middleweight from Philadelphia, had his moments in the fight.

Abraham won the vacant IBF title by knocking out Kingsley Ikeke in December of 2005 but he has not been able to secure a unification bout with fellow Germany-based titleholder Felix Sturm, or make an impression on U.S. boxing fans enough to create a demand to mandate a showdown with RING champ Kelly Pavlik – yet.