Re: Felix Sturm - Sebastian Sylvester this weekend !! (SPOILER ALERT!!!)
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For the first time in eight years, two German fighters stepped into the ring to battle for a world championship. Since Dariusz Michalczewski scored a one-sided tenth round technical knockout over “Rocky” Graciano Rocchigiani in their 2000 rematch for the WBO light heavyweight belt, there was no German champion defending his title against a German challenger.
Until now.
From the opening bell, it was the WBA beltholder who was in control of the championship bout. Speed, accuracy and ring generalship did the trick for Sturm. Sylvester, however, managed to keep the fight close in the first half of the contest.
As a suprise to most experts at ringside, it was 'the boxer' Felix Sturm who attacked and made 'the fighter' Sebastian Sylvester move backwards. The defense of the champion was up, and his jab quick and stiff, making it hard for the challenger to connect with anything big.
After Sturm displayed his boxing skills in the first two rounds, silencing the Sylvester fans in attendance, the challenger came back in the third, winning the round by outworking the champion. However, after the final bell, the third was viewed as the only clear round for Sylvester.
From round six onwards, Sturm was in total command of the fight. His jab found its target at will. Sturm, not known as a hard-hitting boxer, stunned the tough Sylvester at the end of the seventh with a good left hook to the body. Left jab, left hook to the body and left hook to the head was the combination Sturm loved to use against Sylvester. And had trouble missing with it during the whole fight.
Sylvester showed heart, as he desperately tried to get back into the fight. His biggest success was a right uppercut in the tenth round but besides that, Sturm’s quickness and counter punching were too much for the challenger.
In the championship rounds, Sylvester was told by his trainer to go for the knockout. And he tried -- but never came close. Sturm, however, did.
At the end of rounds eleven and twelve, the champion, who knew he had the fight in the bag, became even more aggressive, going after Sylvester and hitting him at will. His body shots and right hand leads made Sylvester’s knees buckle but he did not fall. Therefore, both fighters made it to the final bell.
But even before the official verdict, all questions were answered. Michalczewski was right, Abraham was wrong, Sturm’s superior boxing skills proved to be too much for the challenger, as he totally outclassed and dominated Sylvester in a exciting world title clash. The challenger, however, gave his best and fought his heart out. He was never close to winning the belt though.
The judges scored it 118-110 twice and 119-109 for Sturm, a near shutout. Fightnews also scored it 118-110 for the defending champion.
“First of all, I have to thank this great crowd”, said Sturm. “The atmosphere was electric. Sebastian had a good game plan, he was better than I expected. I figured, he would be pressing the action from the get-go. Therefore, I had to change my game plan a bit after two or three rounds. We shook hands today and had a great fight. That’s the most important thing. I went forward at the end because that’s what a great champion should do. I hoped for the knockout, but at the end, a decisive decision is better than a poor knockout.”
“He did a great job, like a real champion”, said Sylvester. “I tought he would tire down the stretch. However, he didn’t.”
Sturm showed great improvement against Sylvester. His defense was sharper, his stamina better. He went a really high pace for twelve rounds. His punches were very accurate. He was just too much for Sylvester on Saturday night. After his very controversial loss to Oscar De La Hoya in 2004 and his rematch against Randy Griffin four months ago, this might have been his career-best performance.
“Felix’ pace was incredible”, said his trainer Michael Timm. “He improved again and fought like a real champion. It is a lot of fun to work with him. We prepared very well for weeks and it paid off.”
Sylvester’s manager Winfried Spiering: “Congratulations to Felix. He deserved to win. Sadly, we couldn’t beat him. The pace was tremendous. There was never a break.”
Sebastian Sylvester fell short in his first world title shot but showed the heart of a warrior. The former European champion could very well grab those European honors again. He falls to 29-3, 13 KOs.
The future for Felix Sturm is very bright after the decisive victory. After a lot of criticism by experts over the last few years, Sturm finally established himself on the very top of the boxing world with his last few performances as he proved the very same critics wrong.
Now a unification bout with fellow champion, IBF titleholder Arthur Abraham would be huge and probably the biggest German fight in decades. It seems, however, to be very unlikely in the short term. Abraham has a title defense against Raul Marquez upcoming next Saturday night and wants the big fights in the USA afterwards. Probably at 168 pounds.
Another great option for Sturm would be a battle against American champion Kelly Pavlik, who, although coming off a devastating loss to Bernard Hopkins, still holds the recognition of being the WBC/WBO unified middleweight champion. A fight against Pavlik would be a crossroads bout for both boxers – and another intersting clash of a boxer against a fighter. Sturm defended his belt for the fifth time in his third reign and moves to 31-2-1, 13 KOs.
source: fightnews.com
