Karapet Muradyan (; born 2 September 1983), best known as Karo Murat (), is a German-Armenian professional boxer who held the IBO light-heavyweight title in 2018. He also held the European super-middleweight title from 2008 to 2009 and the light-heavyweight version in 2017.
Professional career Early stages and European super-middleweight champion Murat made his professional debut in Hessen, Germany on 23 September 2006 defeating Matus Sestak.
On 16 February 2008, he defeated Sergey Kharchenko at the Nuremberg Arena to lift the EBU-EE super middleweight title via stoppage in the 10th round.
In his next fight, Murat travelled to Neubrandenburg to fight for the full European belt against Cristian Sanavia on 12 April 2008, winning by unanimous decision.
A first defence in Bielefeld on 20 September 2008 resulted in a majority points win over Spain's Gabriel Campillo. He then met Sanavia in a rematch on 28 February 2009, again in Neubrandenburg. Murat stopped Sanavia in the 10th round to register a second successful defence of the title.
Move to light-heavyweight Murat moved up to light-heavyweight and fought Serhiy Demchenko to win the vacant WBO Inter-continental light-heavyweight title via unanimous decision on 29 August 2009 in Halle.
His first defence against Guyana's Sean Corbin resulted in a second round stoppage win on 30 January 2010. Murat successfully defended his title once more on 1 May 2010 beating Tommy Karpency over 12 rounds, knocking him down in the second, in Oldenburg, Germany.
On 18 September 2010, Murat faced Nathan Cleverly in a WBO light-heavyweight title eliminator. The bout was waved off by the referee as the 10th round was about to start on the advice of the ringside doctor.
He rebounded from the defeat on 12 February 2011 with an eight round points win over Christian Cruz and followed this on 7 May 2011 by winning the IBF Inter-continental title against American boxer Otis Griffin with an 11th round stoppage. He made his first defence of the title in a rematch against Gabriel Campillo on 1 October 2011, with the fight ending in a draw.
IBF light-heavyweight title challenge
Murat faced the IBF light-heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins on 26 October 2013 in Atlantic City, USA, and lost by unanimous decision.
European light-heavyweight champion On 1 July 2017, he beat the previously undefeated Dominic Bösel by 11th round technical knockout to win the vacant European light-heavyweight title.
IBO light-heavyweight title Murat defeated Travis Reeves by technical knockout in the 12th round to win the vacant IBO light heavyweight title on 24 March 2018.
He lost the title in his first defense to Sven Fornling at Alsterdorfer Sporthalle in Hamburg, Germany, on 15 December 2018. He was knocked to the canvas in the first round and floored his opponent in the 12th round. Murat was deducted a point in round 11 for rabbit punches and Fornling went on to win via unanimous decision.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes40Win35–4–1Norbert DabrowskiTKO10 (10), 19 Oct 202239Win34–4–1Adnan DeronjaRTD3 (8), 6 Jun 202238Win33–4–1Norbert SzekeresKO6 (8), 21 May 202237LossSven FornlingUD1215 Dec 201836Win32–3–1Travis ReevesTKO12 (12), 24 Mar 201835Win31–3–1Dominic BoeselTKO11 (12), 1 Jul 201734Win30–3–1Yevgeni MakhteienkoTKO12 (12), 17 Sep 2016.33Win29–3–1Esteban Hillman TababaryTKO1 (10), 4 Jun 201632Win28–3–1Aleksandar TodorovicPTS613 Feb 201631Loss27–3–1Sullivan BarreraKO5 (12), 12 Dec 201530Win27–2–1Benjamin SimonTKO7 (12), 25 Apr 201529Win26–2–1Leo TchoulaTKO4 (10), 31 Oct 201428Loss25–2–1Bernard HopkinsUD1226 Oct 201327Win25–1–1Sandro SiproshviliTKO7 (8), 2 Jun 201226Draw24–1–1Gabriel CampilloSD121 Oct 201125Win24–1Otis GriffinTKO11 (12), 7 May 201124Win23–1Christian CruzUD812 Feb 201123Loss22–1Nathan CleverlyTKO9 (12), 18 Sep 201022Win22–0Tommy KarpencyUD121 May 201021Win21–0Shawn CorbinTKO2 (12), 30 Jan 201020Win20–0Serhiy DemchenkoUD1229 Aug 200919Win19–0Cristian SanaviaTKO10 (12), 28 Feb 200918Win18–0Gabriel CampilloMD1220 Sep 200817Win17–0Cristian SanaviaUD1212 Apr 200816Win16–0Sergey KharchenkoTKO10 (12), 16 Feb 200815Win15–0Emiliano CayetanoTKO7 (8), 29 Dec 200714Win14–0Gabor BaloghTKO1 (8)24 Nov 200713Win13–0Szabolcs RimovszkyKO2 (8), 15 Sep 200712Win12–0Jermain MackeyUD818 Aug 200711Win11–0Sergey BotnikovKO4 (4), 30 Jun 200710Win10–0Mustapha StiniRTD2 (6), 26 May 20079Win9–0Nicolas PerilloUD68 May 20078Win8–0Sergey GribkovUD624 Mar 20077Win7–0Pavels LotahsUD63 Mar 20076Win6–0Mirko SinovcicTKO1 (6)17 Feb 20075Win5–0Yves RomainvilleKO1 (6), 20 Jan 20074Win4–0Biagio PateraUD416 Dec 20063Win3–0Petr RykalaTKO1 (4)18 Nov 20062Win2–0Tanju GuenesKO1 (4), 4 Nov 20061Win1–0Matus SestakKO1 (4), 23 Sep 2006
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