By Erik Schmidt: With the recent move by former International Boxing Federation middleweight champion Arthur Abraham to vacate his title and move up to the super middleweight division, it leaves his IBF title open for top contenders Sebastian Sylvester (31-3, 15 KO’s) to fight it out with Giovanni Lorenzo (27-1, 19 KO’s) on September 19th for the vacant middleweight crown in Sylvester’s home country of Germany.
Sebastian Sylvester
Sylvester Defeats Simon; Preskar-Predyura Fight to a Draw – Boxing News
By Erik Schmidt: Middleweight contender Sebastian Sylvester (31-3, 15 KO’s) continued with his successful comeback with a 12 round unanimous decision over American contender Lajuan Simon (21-2-2, 12 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Max Schmeling Halle, in Berlin, Germany. Sylvester, 28, won the fight by the judges’ scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 117-111.
Yoan Pablo Hernandez, Karo Murat and Sebastian Sylvester: Future Stars or Pretenders?
By Erik Schmidt: Last weekend at the Jahnsportforum, Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, German boxers Yoan Pablo Hernandez (18-1, 11 KOs), Sebastian Sylvester (30-3, 15 KOs) and Karo Murat (19-0, 12 KOs) were each successful in their matches against typically low quality opposition. However, in winning the fights, Hernandez, Sylvester and Murat showed little improvement on the deep flaws in their game and made it hard for me to see them as potential champions in the future despite their obvious talent.
Lopez Defeats Sarabia; Murat Stops Sanavia, Sylvester Defeats Nespro – News
Undefeated featherweight Abraham Lopez thrilled the packed house at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California, on Friday night with a crunching second round knockout of Manuel Sarabia. With the win, the heavy handed 21 year old improved his record to 6-0-0 with five knockouts.
Barrera Faces Khan; Murat vs. Sanavia, Sylvester vs. Nespro – News
The hype surrounding 22-year-old lightweight prospect Amir Khan may not be the same since his stunning first-round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott last September, but the 2004 Olympic silver medallist has the full confidence of his head trainer, Freddie Roach, as they prepare in Los Angeles for Khan’s showdown with multiple world champion “The Baby Faced Assassin” Marco Antonio Barrera, Saturday, March 14 at The M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom.
News: Pacquiao Vacates Title; Sylvester vs. Nespro on Saturday
The protagonists of Saturday night´s Sauerland Event fight card in Neubrandenburg today warmed up with a public training session in the heart of the East German city. Former European middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester (29-3, 14 KOs) will be looking to return to winning ways when he faces Italy´s Gaetano Nespro (14-4, 2 KOs) for the IBF international middleweight title. It will be the Hurricane’s first fight since losing a points decision to WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm and also the first under newly-appointed head coach Karsten Rower.
Hide-Godfrey, Sylvester-Nespro, Murat-Sanavia, Torres Passes – News
“The Dancing Destroyer” will be back at the North Sea on March 6th. Herbie Hide will return to the Kugelbake-Halle in Cuxhaven, Germany, for his WBC Final Eliminator against Matt Godfrey. In his last fight on November 18th, 2008, Hide won an unexpected hard fought unanimous decision over Polish journeyman Lukasz Rusiewicz.
Fury-Zeller on Saturday; Khan vs. Barrera at M.E.N Arena – News
Tyson Fury, British boxing’s biggest new star, has taken on a risky second professional fight at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan on Saturday, 17th January against an opponent who has won 20 of his 21 wins by stoppage with only three losses. Former ABA champion Fury (Manchester) made an excellent debut when he stopped Bela Gyongyosi with a body shot in the first round in Nottingham last month.
Sturm Decisions Sylvester In Dull Bout
By Erik Schmidt: In a battle between two jabbers on Saturday night, WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm (31-2-1, 13 KOs) won an excruciatingly dull 12-round unanimous decision over challenger Sebastian Sylvester (29-3, 14 KOs) at the Koenig Pilsener Arena, in Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The final judges’ scores were 119-109, 118-110 and 118-110. Sylvester, 28, the number#1 contender in the WBA, seemed to play into Sturm’s style of fighting by trying to box with a boxer, and ended up getting badly out-jabbed by him and easily defeated.
In hindsight, Sylvester would have been better served if he had taken a closer look at Sturm’s bouts versus Randy Griffin and Javier Castillejo, both of whom used a high volume attack and inside fighting to give Sturm tremendous problems. Sylvester, though, chose to fight on the outside, trying to match Sturm jab for jab and coming up short. The fight might as well have been stopped in the first round, because Sylvester’s game plan was doomed for failure from the very beginning. At times in the past, he’s shown the ability to adapt to his opponent.
Huck-Nzama, Castillejo-Sylvester On Saturday
By Erik Schmidt: Cruiserweight contender Marco Huck (19-1, 14 KOs), fresh off a 12th round TKO loss to IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham on December 29th, will make his first appearance since that time when he hopes for a change in luck against Leon Nzama (2-6) on Saturday night at the Jahnsportforum, Neubrandenburg, in Brandenburg, Germany. If there was ever a fighter that Huck could have chosen to ensure that he comes out the winner this Saturday, it’s Nzama, who has lost his last five fights coming into this Saturday’s bout with Huck.
Based on the relative inexperience, and the poor record of Nazama, one could safely conclude that Huck’s management team doesn’t have a lot of confidence in him that he’ll be able to overcome adversity if matched any tougher than this. However, I don’t blame them one bit for putting Huck in with a fighter with a record as dreadful as this, for Huck has looked no better than an amateur in his last two fights, beating Vadim Tokarev by a gift majority decision in May 2007, and then getting stopped in the 12th round by Cunningham in December.