By Mohammed Abulkhair: With a little over a month away, six of the top ten fighters in the Middleweight division will be squaring off. September will be an exciting month for the Middleweight division, and for boxing. To start off the month, there will be two bouts that take place.

First, a unification bout featuring WBA Super World Champion Felix Sturm (37-2-2, 16 KOs), against IBF Champion Daniel “The Real Deal” Geale (27-1, 15 KOs). Also on the same exciting night of boxing, talented and undefeated WBA(regular) and IBO Middleweight Champion Gennady Golovkin (23-0, 20 KO’s), will be putting his skills to test against the hard hitting EBU Middleweight champion Grzegorz Proksa (28-1, 21 KO’s). However, these two bouts are only the appetizer to the main dish; Ring Magazine Middleweight Champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) will challenge WBC Middleweight Champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (46-0-1-32 KO’s) on September 15th.

The question is, which boxers will rise and come out on top? In the first bout of the month, Sturm against Geale, this fight is a toss-up and can go either way. Sturm is coming off a 9th round TKO victory over fellow countrymen Sebastian Zbik. However, previous to the Zbik bout Sturm did not look very good in receiving a draw against British boxer Martin Murray, and before the Murray bout Sturm received a gift split decision win against Irishmen Mathew Macklin. Geale on the other hand has been facing 2nd tier opposition since losing to Anthony Mundine in 2009. The only name that sticks out on Geale’s record since losing to Mundine is Sebastian Sylvester, who Geale defeated by a split decision in 2011.

Next on the list is the undefeated and hard punching Gennady Golovkin, against Polish Grzegorz Proksa. Gennady Golovkin has a very impressive amateur background, with wins against the likes of talented Andre Dirrell, Lucian Bute, and Andy Lee. However, the amateur scene is definitely not on the same caliber as the professional level. But to give Gennady credit he has wins over well-known Ugandan boxer Kassim Ouma, and Lajuan Simon who has never been knocked out in his career, but was knocked out in the first round by Golovkin. I have not seen much of Proksa as I have with Golovkin, but I was able to catch Proska against Kerry Hope. In March of this year Proska looked very average in losing to Hope by a 12th round majority decision. However, in July Proska looked much better as an all-round boxer and was able to defeat Hope by an 8th round TKO. I believe Gennady will come out with the win by knock-out due to his non-stop pressure, and by his hard hitting punches that will break down Proska.

Finally the fight that we have all been waiting for, Sergio “Marvilla” Martinez Vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The thought of this fight ever happening was laughable a few years back, however, nobody is laughing now. Even Bob Arum came out of the woodwork to say that he kept Chavez from facing Martinez. Even though, I believe Chavez should be a Light Heavyweight and not a Middleweight, I still think he will lose against Martinez. If same day weigh ins took place in Las Vegas, I believe this fight would not occur. Chavez is known for ballooning up to 180 lbs or more fight night, and this has helped him in getting wins in the past. Chavez was able to absorb all the shots he took in the past because of his weight, and somewhat of a decent chin. However, Martinez is certainly no Andy Lee who was there all night for Chavez to hit and finally score a 7th round TKO against. Martinez uses quick in and out elusive movement to get his punches in the way he did against Pavlik, Dzinziruk , and Macklin. Although Martinez did not look spectacular in his last fight against Macklin, he was still able to score the KO. Martinez is not going to be right in front of Chavez to be hit like many of his other opponents. Chavez has not faced anybody in his career that has the pop in their punches like Martinez, or anybody on the same level talent wise as Martinez for that matter. I believe Martinez will walk away victorious in this fight and possibly by a unanimous decision, however, do not be surprised if Martinez was able to get the knockout.

The month of September shows to be an exciting time for the sport, and hopefully will bring thrilling fights for us fans. Thank you for reading, please comment as I like to read all points of views.