Back when he faced De La Hoya, Sturm was a high level, skilled middleweight. Back then, he was also one of my favorite boxers but that's another subject. Anyway, Sturm has lost a step or two and what were once easy, lopsided, legit UD's for him, became rough, close split decisions in Germany. He started to get hit more and his offensive output dropped. Sometimes he goes into a shell and waits while the opponent scores multiple times.
The fight against Soliman should have been a comfortable win for him, I had him ahead 116-112, but the Sturm of five or six years ago would have won ten or eleven rounds quite easily against Soliman. This would have made things easier for himself. Sturm is still world class but definitely has declined.
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