By Scott Gilfoid: 36-year-old former IBF/WBA/WBO 160lb champion Felix Sturm (39-5-3, 18 KOs) will be facing WBA World super middleweight champion Fedor Chudinov (14-0, 10 KOs) in a rematch in two months from now on February 20 at the Koenig Pilsener Arena, in Oberhausen, Germany.
Sturm has not fought since losing by a 12 round split decision to Chudinov last May in a fight in Frankfurt, Germany. Sturm appealed the decision with the WBA and was granted a rematch against the 28-year-old Russian Chudinov.
Sturm’s career has not gone too well as of late, and it is difficult to figure out why the World Boxing Association is letting him get another shot at a title at all at this point. Sturm has not won a fight in two years since beating Darren Barker in 2013.
Sturm lost to 40-year-old Sam Soliman by a 12 round decision in May 2014, fought to a 12 round draw against Robert Stieglitz in November 2014, and then beaten by Chudinov by a 12 round decision.
With the kind of record Sturm has had in his last three fights, it is confusing why the WBA is giving him another chance to fight for a world title. I mean, Sturm’s record in his last three fights is 0-2-1, and yet he is getting another world title shot.
If this was NFL football, we would be seeing a team going to the Super Bowl with a horrendous record, and it would make a mockery of the event in my view. With the way that Sturm has been fighting in the last two years, I think he is the last one to deserve a world title shot at this point.
“I made a lot of mistakes in the first fight, I could only show 20% of myself, but this time I’m ready, all or nothing, I’ll prove I’m still one of the best in the World,” Sturm said.
As far as I can tell, the only mistake that Sturm made in the Chudinov fight was running out of gas after six rounds. That’s the same mistake that Sturm has had in his last three fights. He fought well for about three rounds against Sam Soliman in their fight in 2014, but then he ran totally out of gas and lost the fight.
Sturm faded badly in his fight against Stieglitz in 2014. I saw that fight and thought that Stieglitz deserved the victory. The scoring was horrendous in my view. Sturm is very, very lucky not to have lost that fight, but Sturm has been lucky for most of his career in fights that have gone to decision. I thought Sturm deserved to lose his fights against Martin Murray in 2011, Randy Griffin in 2007 and Javier Castillejo in 2007.
Chudinov is the brother of middleweight Dmitry Chudinov, and I see him as the much better fighter than his brother. I think Fedor would have knocked Chris Eubank Jr. out if it had been him fighting him instead of Dmitry last year.
Since his win over Sturm, Chudinov defeated Frank Buglioni by a 12 round unanimous decision last September. It was not an impressive performance by Chudinov, but he dominated the action. Buglioni knocked Chudinov down after the 6th round, when he nailed him with a shot clearly after the bell to put him down. This led to Buglioni being penalized two points by the referee.
I’m just wondering if Sturm will keep getting chances to fight for world titles if he gets beaten by Chudinov again. I don’t think Sturm rates his #3 ranking with the WBA. How in the world does Sturm rate a No.3 ranking with a record of 0-2-1 in his last three fights? What in the heck is that? The WBA’s ratings are upside down to where they should be with them giving Sturm that high of a ranking.
To me, I see Sturm as bottom feeder material at the bottom of the ranking at No.15, and I feel that I’m being kind with that ranking. When you go two years without winning a fight, I think you shouldn’t ranked at all in the top 15. I’m just saying. Sturm has that controversial draw against Stieglitz, and I think that was a loss. So we’re basically talking about a fighter with an 0-3 record in his last three fights with No.3 ranking with the WBA, and he’s about to get another shot at a world title.
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