If you ask me I'd say one of the luckiest men to win a world title this year has been Britain's "Dazzling" Darren Barker (26-1, 16) who took a very debatable decision over Daniel Geale to claim the IBF title a few months back. The obvious move after that was an immediate rematch between the two though unfortunately that never happened and instead Barker's first defense will come against Germany's Felix Sturm (38-3-2-1, 17).
For years Sturm was criticised for taking easy defenses, claiming controversial victories and generally derided by the boxing public. Over the past two years however he has suffered a loss to Daniel Geale and a loss (later over-turned to a no contest) against Sam Soliman. This suggests that even the German fans are bored of him and the judges are no longer "in his pocket" as some have suggest.
At his beat Sturm was a jabbing machine. He was never be a big puncher, he'd never knock fighters clean out but he did have the uncanny ability to land his exceptional jab at will almost dismantling opponents with the crisp clean jab. It was this jab that helped him hold the WBA Middleweight hostage in Germany for years though unfortunately for him he ran into a determined and busy Geale who did enough to force the judges to give him the win.
Sturm is no longer able to keep up the busy jab like he did in his prime. It's still an excellent jab but his work rate has dropped off and a busy fighter like Geale has been able to make him look awful. In fact Geale, Matthew Macklin and Martin Murray have all made Sturm look second rate.
With that in mind I need to favour Barker to retain his title here. The Englishman might be going over the Germany but he's a younger fighter who can dig deep, has shown an improved ability to go 12 rounds and looks to be fighting at his best. Sure I felt he came second to Geale but that was genuinely close, this however won't be.
In terms of the jabbing game Barker will be able to hold his own with Sturm who turns 35 next month, in terms of the inside game I favour Barker and whilst he certainly won't dominate the fight he'll do enough to take a clear but competitive decision by around 8 rounds to 4.
Although a rematch in the UK has been signed in to the contract I'd imagine if Barker wins here we won't be seeing the rematch here, instead the Geale rematch is more likely and certainly makes for a more competitive bout than a do-over of this one.
Prediction-Barker UD12
Showing posts with label Felix Sturm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Felix Sturm. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Felix Sturm v Daniel Geale
Unification fights seem to becoming rarer and rarer in today's boxing world and when they happen they genuinely deserve to have some attention. With that in mind I'm personally very excited about the up coming Middleweight unification bout between long term WBA "Super" champion Felix Sturm (37-2-2, 16) and the IBF champion, Australian Daniel Geale (27-1, 15).
Firstly we'll look at Sturm who at 33 years old is the older fighter though is far from a shot fighter going on the evidence of his last bout, a TKO9 over Sebastian Zbik. Sturm started his professional career back in 2001 and with in 3 years he had claimed the WBO Middleweight title thanks to a controversial victory over Argentinian Hector Javier Velazco. Sturn had been a very late replacement for former champion Bert Schenk (who was forced to pull out due to illness) taking the fight with just a couple of days notice though was impressive on in his first major professional bout.
After scoring a clear points victory over Ruben Varon in his only defense, Sturm lost his title, controversially, to American superstar Oscar De La Hoya just 9 months after winning it. Despite this loss Sturm had proven he could hang with top level fighters and he took little time climbing his way back to the top of the rankings, this time viewing the WBA title as the one he wanted. A little over a year after losing to De La Hoya, Sturm had claimed the mandatory position for the WBA Middleweight title.
With William Joppy (the WBA "regular" champion) losing against Bernard Hopkins (the WBA "Super" champion) the WBA vacated their regular title which was later won by Maselino Masoe who surprisingly stopped Evans Ashira (who would later go on to take Joe Calzaghe the distance). Masoe's reign was very short lived with Sturm defeating him in his only defence to become a 2-time world champion.
Sturm would surprisingly lose in his first defense of his WBA title as he was stopped in round 10 against Spanish veteran Javier Castillejo, a former WBC Light Middleweight champion. In a rematch just 9 months later Sturm would avenge his defeat and reclaim the WBA title by out pointing Castillejo in a hugely disputed bout that Spaniard's team were very unhappy about.
Since reclaiming the title from Castillejo back in April 2007 Sturm has amassed an incredible 12 title defenses (including 10 wins and draws). Included in those defences were Noe Gonzalez Alcoba (UD12), Randy Griffin (D12 and UD12), Jamie Pittman (TKO7), Sebastian Sylvester (UD12), Koji Sato (TKO7), Khoren Gevor (UD12), Giovanni Lorenzo (UD12), Ronald Hearns (TKO7), Matthew Macklin (SD12-in a hugely controversial bout), Martin Murray (D12) and Sebastian Zbik (TKO7), with the title being upgraded to the "Super" title after the victory over Gevor.
As well as being a long reigning champion of over 5 years Sturm is best known in the ring for his hard, accurate and razor sharp jab, a punch that he often dominates opponents with. Whilst not being a hugely powerful fighter Sturm's jab is hurtful and can bust up fighters with it's alarming cleanness. Outside of the jab however Sturm is very average with solid but unspectacular uppercuts and appears to like to work at his own pace preferring quality of work rather than quantity.
Unlike Sturm, Australian Geale, aged 31, is a relatively new champion having claimed the IBF title just last year as he out pointed former Sturm opponent Sebastian Sylvester by split decision to end Sylvester's controversial 18 month reign. This was a solid rise to the top for Geale who only started his own professional career in 2004.
Geale, who debuted in October 2004 started his career with 21 straight wins, including impressive victories over fellow Australian Daniel Dawson and the teak tough Serbian Geard Ajetovic, suffered his first (and only) professional loss in 2009 against Anthony Mundine. Mudine, a former 2-time world champion at Super Middleweight, controversially out pointed Geale by split decision in one of the most controversial bouts in Australian boxing in modern times.
Since controversially losing to Mundine in 2009 Geale has been on an excellent run of results with 6 straight victories including 3 in world title bouts. Before claiming the IBF world title Geale had to earn his mandatory position, to do this he would have to get past the experienced Russian Roman Karmazin. Karmazin, a former IBF Light Middleweight champion had taken the then reigning IBF Middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester to a controversial draw (with many feeling Karmazin was robbed). Geale was hugely impressive in not only beating Karmazin but becoming just the second man to stop the Russian in 47 bouts.
Having earned his shot at the title Geale traveled to Germany to face Sylvester as the slight under-dog despite many expecting Geale to need to score a KO to win. Geale set off at a lightning quick pace completely outworking the then champion to take a narrow split decision. Whilst Sylvester's shots seemed to be the much harder, cleaner blows he was just simply out worked in too many rounds to deny the Australian.
Since winning the title Geale has made two defences out pointing the thoroughly outclassing both Nigerian Eromosele Albert and Ghanian Osumanu Adama to take unanimous decision wins in both defenses.
So now to this fight. On paper the bout appears to be a lot like Geale's first foray to Germany (where he beat Sylvester) in that he will go in as the under-dog with many people suspecting that he will be beaten if it goes to the cards, as he faces an accurate puncher who whilst not particularly active is very accurate. Also, like his first foray into the country Geale's opponent comes into the bout on the back of a clear victory following a draw (Sylvester drew with Karmazin before widely out pointing Mahir Oral whilst Sturm draw with Martin Murray before stopping Sebastian Zbik). However we also have plenty of differences, this time Geale isn't the taller man (having had a 2.5" height advantage over Sylvester he is now the smaller man by 1.5") and he's also not having a new experience of having to travel to a foreign country for the first time in his career.
From what we've seen of Sturm in recent years, most notably the Macklin fight, Sturm can easily be outworked especially at close range and whilst he's not so easy to hurt attacking his body will slow him down noticeably. However if you allow him to get into a rhythm with his jab, as he did against Zbik you can be in for a long painful night at a distance he controls. Geale will need to find a way to stay away from the jab whilst getting inside and working the body of the German, if he can do this then he'll have a lot of success.
From Sturm's point of view he'll be wanting to watch Geale's fight with Sylvester as well as his own bout with Macklin as they were surprisingly similar in that the challenger attacked, relentlessly through out the bout. Whilst Macklin hits harder than Geale it's fair to say the Aussie is slightly cleverer with his work and takes careful breathers outside of range. Whilst Sturm could look to strike when Geale is at range he may have better success striking as Geale comes in and out of range. Sylvester had his best successes when he nailed Geale up close with shots as Geale was letting his hands go and with Sturm being a much better boxer than Sylvester it's fair to say he could have similar successes.
Whilst I think Sturm could certainly hurt Geale, especially late when Geale will be tired from his high out put, I do, just, favour Sturm by decision. The fact Sturm is fighting at home in Germany is the deciding factor for me. Whilst Geale could certainly outwork Sturm, if he can avoid Sturm's jab and build on Macklin's game plan I just don't see him getting the decision even if he deserves it. Despite clearly defeating Sylvester last year one judge somehow saw the bout 118-110 to Sylvester.
Prediction-Sturm by decision.
Firstly we'll look at Sturm who at 33 years old is the older fighter though is far from a shot fighter going on the evidence of his last bout, a TKO9 over Sebastian Zbik. Sturm started his professional career back in 2001 and with in 3 years he had claimed the WBO Middleweight title thanks to a controversial victory over Argentinian Hector Javier Velazco. Sturn had been a very late replacement for former champion Bert Schenk (who was forced to pull out due to illness) taking the fight with just a couple of days notice though was impressive on in his first major professional bout.
After scoring a clear points victory over Ruben Varon in his only defense, Sturm lost his title, controversially, to American superstar Oscar De La Hoya just 9 months after winning it. Despite this loss Sturm had proven he could hang with top level fighters and he took little time climbing his way back to the top of the rankings, this time viewing the WBA title as the one he wanted. A little over a year after losing to De La Hoya, Sturm had claimed the mandatory position for the WBA Middleweight title.
With William Joppy (the WBA "regular" champion) losing against Bernard Hopkins (the WBA "Super" champion) the WBA vacated their regular title which was later won by Maselino Masoe who surprisingly stopped Evans Ashira (who would later go on to take Joe Calzaghe the distance). Masoe's reign was very short lived with Sturm defeating him in his only defence to become a 2-time world champion.
Sturm would surprisingly lose in his first defense of his WBA title as he was stopped in round 10 against Spanish veteran Javier Castillejo, a former WBC Light Middleweight champion. In a rematch just 9 months later Sturm would avenge his defeat and reclaim the WBA title by out pointing Castillejo in a hugely disputed bout that Spaniard's team were very unhappy about.
Since reclaiming the title from Castillejo back in April 2007 Sturm has amassed an incredible 12 title defenses (including 10 wins and draws). Included in those defences were Noe Gonzalez Alcoba (UD12), Randy Griffin (D12 and UD12), Jamie Pittman (TKO7), Sebastian Sylvester (UD12), Koji Sato (TKO7), Khoren Gevor (UD12), Giovanni Lorenzo (UD12), Ronald Hearns (TKO7), Matthew Macklin (SD12-in a hugely controversial bout), Martin Murray (D12) and Sebastian Zbik (TKO7), with the title being upgraded to the "Super" title after the victory over Gevor.
As well as being a long reigning champion of over 5 years Sturm is best known in the ring for his hard, accurate and razor sharp jab, a punch that he often dominates opponents with. Whilst not being a hugely powerful fighter Sturm's jab is hurtful and can bust up fighters with it's alarming cleanness. Outside of the jab however Sturm is very average with solid but unspectacular uppercuts and appears to like to work at his own pace preferring quality of work rather than quantity.
Unlike Sturm, Australian Geale, aged 31, is a relatively new champion having claimed the IBF title just last year as he out pointed former Sturm opponent Sebastian Sylvester by split decision to end Sylvester's controversial 18 month reign. This was a solid rise to the top for Geale who only started his own professional career in 2004.
Geale, who debuted in October 2004 started his career with 21 straight wins, including impressive victories over fellow Australian Daniel Dawson and the teak tough Serbian Geard Ajetovic, suffered his first (and only) professional loss in 2009 against Anthony Mundine. Mudine, a former 2-time world champion at Super Middleweight, controversially out pointed Geale by split decision in one of the most controversial bouts in Australian boxing in modern times.
Since controversially losing to Mundine in 2009 Geale has been on an excellent run of results with 6 straight victories including 3 in world title bouts. Before claiming the IBF world title Geale had to earn his mandatory position, to do this he would have to get past the experienced Russian Roman Karmazin. Karmazin, a former IBF Light Middleweight champion had taken the then reigning IBF Middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester to a controversial draw (with many feeling Karmazin was robbed). Geale was hugely impressive in not only beating Karmazin but becoming just the second man to stop the Russian in 47 bouts.
Having earned his shot at the title Geale traveled to Germany to face Sylvester as the slight under-dog despite many expecting Geale to need to score a KO to win. Geale set off at a lightning quick pace completely outworking the then champion to take a narrow split decision. Whilst Sylvester's shots seemed to be the much harder, cleaner blows he was just simply out worked in too many rounds to deny the Australian.
Since winning the title Geale has made two defences out pointing the thoroughly outclassing both Nigerian Eromosele Albert and Ghanian Osumanu Adama to take unanimous decision wins in both defenses.
So now to this fight. On paper the bout appears to be a lot like Geale's first foray to Germany (where he beat Sylvester) in that he will go in as the under-dog with many people suspecting that he will be beaten if it goes to the cards, as he faces an accurate puncher who whilst not particularly active is very accurate. Also, like his first foray into the country Geale's opponent comes into the bout on the back of a clear victory following a draw (Sylvester drew with Karmazin before widely out pointing Mahir Oral whilst Sturm draw with Martin Murray before stopping Sebastian Zbik). However we also have plenty of differences, this time Geale isn't the taller man (having had a 2.5" height advantage over Sylvester he is now the smaller man by 1.5") and he's also not having a new experience of having to travel to a foreign country for the first time in his career.
From what we've seen of Sturm in recent years, most notably the Macklin fight, Sturm can easily be outworked especially at close range and whilst he's not so easy to hurt attacking his body will slow him down noticeably. However if you allow him to get into a rhythm with his jab, as he did against Zbik you can be in for a long painful night at a distance he controls. Geale will need to find a way to stay away from the jab whilst getting inside and working the body of the German, if he can do this then he'll have a lot of success.
From Sturm's point of view he'll be wanting to watch Geale's fight with Sylvester as well as his own bout with Macklin as they were surprisingly similar in that the challenger attacked, relentlessly through out the bout. Whilst Macklin hits harder than Geale it's fair to say the Aussie is slightly cleverer with his work and takes careful breathers outside of range. Whilst Sturm could look to strike when Geale is at range he may have better success striking as Geale comes in and out of range. Sylvester had his best successes when he nailed Geale up close with shots as Geale was letting his hands go and with Sturm being a much better boxer than Sylvester it's fair to say he could have similar successes.
Whilst I think Sturm could certainly hurt Geale, especially late when Geale will be tired from his high out put, I do, just, favour Sturm by decision. The fact Sturm is fighting at home in Germany is the deciding factor for me. Whilst Geale could certainly outwork Sturm, if he can avoid Sturm's jab and build on Macklin's game plan I just don't see him getting the decision even if he deserves it. Despite clearly defeating Sylvester last year one judge somehow saw the bout 118-110 to Sylvester.
Prediction-Sturm by decision.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)