By Scott Gilfoid: It really pains me to say this but I think Martin Murray (23-0, 10 KO’s) won’t do any better against WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm (36-2-1, 15 KO’s) than Matthew Macklin did last June. Sturm took Macklin’s early onslaught in the first five rounds and then turned up the heat on the exhausted Macklin in the 2nd half of the fight to give the Brit a real beating in winning a 12 round decision.

Macklin wasn’t interested in rematch offer by Sturm, so now the German-based talent is turning his attention towards another Brit, this one the 29-year-old Murray. It won’t be any different I’m afraid. No, I take that back. It will be different. Sturm will beat the over-matched Murray even easier than he did Macklin on December 2nd in their fight at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany.

I’ve seen a several of Murray’s fights where he’s been matched against 3rd tier opposition, and it was awful to watch. Murray’s hand speed is just nowhere, and his right hand is more of a jab than a power punch. The best weapon Murray has going for him is a left hook to the body, but it doesn’t even come close to the right hand, left hook and jab that Sturm has going for him.

I honestly don’t know how the World Boxing Association has Murray ranked at number #3. That is just unbelievable. Murray looks 2nd tier to me all the way. Don’t get me wrong, Murray is a good second tier fighter in my view, but you got to be better than 2nd tier to beat a champion like Sturm.

Like I said, this is going to be another victim for Sturm along the same lines as his Macklin victim. Murray really needs more experience against quality opposition before facing a champion. It’s worrisome that the sanctioning bodies are now in the habit of ranking fighters highly before they’ve ever proven themselves against top tier opposition.