By Erik Schmidt: World Boxing Association middleweight champion Felix Sturm (33-1, 14 KO’s) defeated challenger Khoren Gevor (30-4, 16 KO’s) tonight by a close 12-round decision at the Ring Arena, Nürburgring Racetrack, in Nürburg, Germany. The decision, like many of the previous ones that the 30-year-old Sturm has won, was a controversial victory, as it appeared that Gevor did more than enough to get the victory.
However, having the hometown advantage, Sturm got the nod by the judges despite appearing to lose the fight by at least two to three rounds. Sturm fought poorly through much of the fight allowing Gevor to pressure him and make the fight an inside affair rather than allowing Sturm to fight on the outside where he has more of an advantage.
The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 115-113 and 117-111. Since winning the WBA middleweight title in 2006, Sturm has three highly controversial fights with Randy Griffin (twice) and Javier Castillejo in their rematch. Sturm appeared to lose all three of them, yet was given the decision each time in fights that took place in Germany.
Gevor appeared to be robbed of a knockdown in the 3rd round after he dropped Sturm with a left hand to the head. The punch appeared to be legitimate. However, the referee looked to have been shielded from the action and missed the punch and didn’t count it as a knockdown.
In rounds one through seven, Gevor dominated the fight by outworking Sturm in close. Gevor kept his head buried in Sturm’s chest hammering him to the body and head with shots. Stum came back in the 8th round, landing the harder shots but still getting out-worked in the last four rounds. I had Sturm winning four out of the last five rounds of the fight because Gevor looked exhausted and was mostly pushing his punches instead of throwing them with any kind of authority.
However, I had Gevor winning the first seven rounds because of his much higher work rate. There was noting close about these rounds as Gevor landed many more punches than Sturm and did more than enough to earn the decision based on this alone given that Sturm failed to score any knockdowns. The bout proved little other than how hard it is to take the title away from the German-based Sturm.
It may take a fighter like Daniel Jacobs to take the title away from Sturm in the future. Jacobs has much more talent, power and speed than Sturm and when and if they ever do meet, I don’t like Sturm’s chances one bit, even in Germany. Jacobs would probably know that he would have to knock him out to get the win and would act accordingly.
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In other action, unbeaten middleweight contender Gennady Golovkin (17-0, 14 KO’s) stopped John Anderson Carvalho (19-4, 11 KO’s) in the 2nd round. Golovkin finished Carvalho off with a left to the midsection followed by a left uppercut that knocked Carvalho down on the canvas. The bout was immediately stopped at that point. Golovkin mostly jabbed in the 1st round, circling the ring and nailing Carvalho with one stinging jab after another. In the 2nd round, Golovkin opened up with uppercuts and combinations, loading up with his shots and looking like a completely different fighter compared to the first round. The win will likely push Golovkin up higher in the rankings. He’s currently ranked #3 in both the WBA and WBC. He might just be the fighter that can take the title away from Sturm in the future. He’s got the power, although he’s not that big at only 5’10”.
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Undefeated middleweight Sebastian Zbik (27-0, 10 KOs) defeated Domenico Spada (29-2, 14 KOs) by a controversial 12-round unanimous decision to pick up the interim World Boxing Council middleweight. The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 115-113 and 115-113. I had Spada winning the fight by a comfortable margin, winning 11 of 12 rounds. The scoring for the fight was nothing short of ridiculous because Spada outworked Zbik in every round except for one, landing both the harder and the more numerous shots. You got to feel sorry for Spada, because I feel he deserved this fight.
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