By Erik Schmidt: World Boxing Association middleweight champion Felix Sturm (32-2-1, 14 KOs) not surprisingly stopped a badly over-matched (14-1, 13 KOs) in the 7th round tonight at the KonigPalast, in Krefeld, Germany. Sturm, 29, jabbed Sato continuously, rarely getting hit. The referee, having seen enough of the one-way traffic, stepped in and halted the one-sided bout at 2:56 of the 7th round.
Although Sturm easily beat Sato, it was a fight that should have probably been never set up in the first place because going into the fight many boxing experts could see that Sato didn’t have the skills needed to face a top fighter like Sturm.
However, this was a non-mandatory title defense for Sturm, and like his custom, he generally always grabs the lowest ranked fighter he can to defend against. In this case, Sturm once again picked wisely, but Sato’s poor talent seemed to take away from Sturm’s performance, because his Japanese opponent didn’t belong in the same ring with a champion.
Sato ended up taking a beating in the fight. His right eye was badly swollen and he looked like he’d had a tough time against Sturm. However, despite landing a lot of shots against Sato, Sturm was unable to drop the tough fighter. Part of that reason is likely due to Sturm’s tendency to throw mostly jabs in the right rather than power shots.
In rounds one through six, Sturm used his excellent jab to keep Sato on the outside and harmless. Sato kept trying to apply pressure throughout the fight, but due to his very slow hand speed, he was rarely able to land anything meaningful against Sturm.
In the 7th round, Sato was nearly defenseless as poured in a constant flow of jabs, left hooks and right hands without having to worry about any return fire from Sato. If the referee Luis Pabon hadn’t decided to stop the fight in the 7th, Sturm would have more than likely taken Sato out in a round or two. Sato was getting beaten up needlessly, and couldn’t have withstood too much more before a stoppage.
In other action on the card, World Boxing Organization super middleweight champion Karoly Balzsay (21-0, 15 KOs) stopped Maselino Masoe in the 11th round. Like Sturm, Balzsay was fighting a non-mandatory challenger and chose a beatable opponent in 42-year-year-old Masoe, a former middleweight champion.
Balzsay dominated the entire fight using mainly his jab and short hooks to the head. In the 11th, Balzsay finally finished off Masoe with a combination to the head that sent him down for the count.
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