By Scott Gilfoid: WBA World super middleweight champion Fedor Chudinov (14-0, 10 KOs) weighed in today for his title defense this Saturday night against former world champion Felix Sturm (39-5-3, 18 KOs) at the Koenig Pilsener Arena, in Oberhausen, Germany. Chudinov weighed in at 168lbs. Sturm came in at 167lbs.
Chudinov, 28, already beat the 37-year-old Sturm by a 12 round split decision last year in May 2015 to claim the vacant WBA 168lb title in Frankfurt, Germany. The judges scored the fight 118-110 and 116-112 for Chudinov, and 116-112 for Sturm. There was nothing controversial about the fight, as Chudinov outworked Sturm for the entire 12 rounds and gave him a real beating. Sturm appealed the decision with the World Boxing Association, which is why we’re seeing a rematch.
Hopefully, the two fighters can move on after Saturday. It would be another negative for the sport if the two fighters get locked into never ending rematches like we’ve seen with Germany based fighters Arthur Abraham and Robert Stieglitz fighting each other four times in the span of just three years.
Chudinov has already defended his WBA title once in beating Frank Buglioni by a 12 round unanimous decision last September at the Wembley Arena in London, UK. Chudinov did not look good in that fight, especially when Buglioni was letting his hands go with sustained combinations. If Buglioni had been able to throw more sustained combinations, I think he would have won the fight.
Chudinov looked good when Buglioni was throwing one punch at a time. Chudinov is good at evading shots. However, he was pretty useless when Buglioni would put his shots together. Chudinov’s hand speed was dreadful in that fight. He just doesn’t have much hand speed to speak of. Chudinov is like his older brother Dmitry Chudinov. Both guys are slow, but both of them have good punching power.
Sturm arguably doesn’t deserve to be fighting for a world title again after the way he was beaten by Chudinov last year. Sturm hasn’t fought since then, which is good for him because I think he would be at risk against pretty much anyone. Sturm has lost two out of his last three fights with one of the fights being a controversial 12 round draw against Robert Stieglitz. I had Sturm losing that fight as well.
Sturm was soundly beaten by Sam Soliman by a 12 round decision in May 2014. Sturm fought well for exactly two rounds in that fight, and he then gassed out and spent the rest of the fight taking head shots. I mean, he looked like an old man in that fight. Frankly, I think Sturm is an old and shot fighter, and I can’t see him beating Chudinov. I don’t rate Chudinov as a fighter, but I still think he’s more than good enough to beat Sturm again unless we get some weird scoring from the judges. I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens. The fight is taking place in Germany and the Russian Chudinov will be coming over from Russia for the fight.
The winner of the Chudinov vs. Sturm 2 fight will likely look to face WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham in a unification fight this year. However, that will depend on Abraham winning his April 9 title defense against unbeaten #1 WBO Gilberto Ramirez on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sturm obviously would likely love to fight Abraham in a unification fight because it would be a big deal in Germany. It would give the 37-year-old Sturm a chance to make something happen late in his career against another old timer. I can’t see Sturm winning that fight, but that’s besides the point. He would be getting a big payday against Abraham and the fight would do well in terms of money and fan interest.
Chudinov has the style to beat Sturm again. All he needs to do is focus on throwing nonstop punches for 12 rounds. Sturm will be looking to throw jabs and combinations like last time to impress the judges. Sturm has a great jab, and faster hands than Chudinov. However, Sturm doesn’t have the ability to work for three minutes of every round the way that Chudinov does, and this could be his undoing. If Chudinov is able to get in his face and throw 100 punches per round, then Sturm is going to wear down like he did last time they fought.
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