By Allan Fox: Former WBA/WBO middleweight champion Felix Sturm (37-3-2, 16 KO’s) will be fighting undefeated #4 IBF, Predrag Radosevic (27-0, 9 KO’s), this Saturday, July 6th, in a scheduled 12 round bout at the Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
#3 IBF, Sturm, is trying to get in position to get a rematch against IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale to avenge a 12 round split decision loss that Sturm suffered against him a year ago last September.
Sturm needs a victory over Predrag to get in position to get the rematch with Geale. Sturm can’t afford to get beat at this point because a loss would take him further away from his goal of facing Geale again.
Radosevic hasn’t ever faced a contender before in his 9-year pro career, and it’s going to be difficult for him to be stepping it up for the first time after all these years. The International Boxing Federation must see something in him to rank him at #4, because his resume doesn’t seem reflect that he deserves to be ranked in the top 15 at this point.
None of the other sanctioning bodies has Radosevic ranked in their top 15. It’s good for Sturm though that he’s facing a fighter with so little experience because it puts Sturm in a good position to win this fight on Saturday.
In watching some of Radosevic’s recent fights against Shalva Jomardashvili and Virgilijus Stapulionis, he lacks power and is more of a pure boxer. That doesn’t mean he’ll lose to Sturm, but the absence of power will make things a lot tougher for Radosevic to try and get a victory.
Sturm is coming off of a 12 round no contest against Sam Soliman from last February. Sturm lost the fight by a close 12 round unanimous decision, but then the results were overturned when Soliman tested positive afterwards for a banned substance. Sturm looked out because he fought poorly after gassing out after the 2nd round of the fight.
Sturm is going to have to fight with more energy on Saturday against Radosevic than he did against Soliman. If Sturm fades like he did against Soliman then he could lose a decision. It’s not likely to happen because the fight is taking place in Germany, and Sturm is hard to beat at home, but it’s possible.
Here are the weights from today’s weigh-in:
Felix Sturm 159.72 – Predrag Radosevic 157.96
Carina Moreno 109.57 – Susi Kentikian (50.6 Kg / 111.55 lbs)
Konni Konrad 173.94 – Edison Miranda 179.46
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