By Cliff Rold
The top of the Middleweight division is generally agreed upon for the moment. The kingpin, off his win over then-lineal World Champion Kelly Pavlik in April, is Sergio Martinez (45-2-2, 24 KO). Behind him by only a hair is the man who could call himself the uncrowned champion, Paul Williams (39-1, 27 KO), and have a case based on a thrilling, close win over Martinez last December.
All signs point to a rematch between those two before the year is out.
Most fans couldn’t be blamed if they don’t see much of a Middleweight division behind them. Maybe there isn’t.
But maybe there is.
Returning to the ring for the first time in over a year, a long standing issue with promoter Universum resolved , WBA Middleweight titlist Felix Sturm (33-2-1, 14 KO) has a chance this Saturday (live on ESPN3.com at 4:30 PM EST/1:30 PM PST) to remind the world the division is at least three deep.
Much will depend on if he picks up where he left off in July 2009, or if he does better than that. If the former, it would be hard to spend much time pondering Sturm’s chances.
Sturm’s last time in the ring saw his hand raised for the eighth time in an 8-0-1 run since the only decisive, official defeat of his career. Scores of 115-113 twice and 117-111 said he earned the nod over contender Khoren Gevor.
The fight defied the numbers. Gevor, as he had done against then-IBF Middleweight titlist Arthur Abraham in 2007, gave a strong account and raised his esteem in the eyes of those who watched. Unlike the Abraham fight, he didn’t end the night the victim of a Knockout of the Decade contender. Through twelve rounds he outhustled Sturm, landed the harder shots, and did enough to look like a winner. Largely unseen outside of Germany, the fight didn’t move the Richter scale much in terms of controversy, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any.
Perhaps a bit of karma was in play. If Gevor should be considered a loss, and there’s a solid case it should, there is just as strong a case that Sturm’s first loss should not have been. In 2004, he crossed the Atlantic and, in the eyes of this scribe, earned at least a draw against an Oscar De La Hoya being showcased on the eve of a megabucks showdown with Bernard Hopkins. The scores all favored Oscar.
The show went on.
American fans wondered if Sturm would be a new factor in the division. He has been, just not a large scale. With a solid fan base in Germany, a 2000 German Olympic team berth, and matinee idol looks, Strum has fought many of the better Middleweights of his era and earned a handsome living doing so.
Names like current IBF-titlist Sebastian Sylvester, Randy Griffin (who drew with and then lost to Sturm in a pair of fun outings) and Maselino Masoe don’t get the juices flowing but all were solid threats. They were all good contenders. Sturm’s problem has been that good has not been good enough because, somehow over the six years since De La Hoya, he hasn’t faced the best.
For whatever reason, there was never a fight with Abraham, no challenge of lineal champions Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, or Kelly Pavlik. He has continued on as a name the hardcore fan recognizes as a pretty good fighter without the fights to prove more than that.
His most decisive loss, a tenth round knockout at the hands of Javier Castillejo in 2006, didn’t help matters. The De La Hoya fight always had arguments to be made about De La Hoya’s conditioning (poor that night) and the fact that he was simply too small for the Middleweight division when matched with fighters of skill. Losing to Castillejo cost Strum some regard. That he avenged the loss two fights later, that both fights were solid entertainment, didn’t erase that he had been defeated by a rugged veteran otherwise known for losing to most of the elite competition he faced.
What still weighs in Strum’s favor is that he consistently fights the rest of the contenders not involved in the top of the class. Case in point is this Saturday. 29-year old Giovanni Lorenzo (29-2, 21 KO) deserves to be considered at least on the fringes of the Middleweight top ten. He gave Sylvester everything he could handle in September 2009 for the vacant IBF belt on hostile turf.
Lorenzo is not a great challenge, but he is a good one and a good gauge of where Strum is after the layoff and after the close call with Gevor. Prior to Gevor, Strum looked like he was hitting a peak. While lacking in power, he is deceptively quick handed and possesses an excellent jab. The Sylvester win in November 2008 was a career best. Given his behind the scenes issues, Gevor may only have been a hiccup. Still only 31, Strum certainly has time on his side.
Williams and Martinez is the big question at Middleweight but, when it is answered, the next question will be “who’s next?” Sturm’s decade in the pro ranks, now in a second WBA belt reign after the short WBO run ended by De La Hoya, would be incomplete if he never got to enter the ring with the recognized king of his class and answer, “me.” Self promoting his show this weekend, he’ll have a flexibility going forward he didn’t have under Universum to force the issue.
He’ll need a win over Lorenzo this weekend to remind the world it should care.
Weekly Ledger
But wait, there’s more, this week focused on the new leader for Fight of the Year…
Segura-Calderon Coverage: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=30461
Post-Report Card: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=30475
Cliff’s Notes… Anselmo Moreno considering going to Japan to face Hozumi Hasegawa? Yeah, this sounds like a good idea. As long as the top guys keep going at each other, Bantamweight just can’t miss right now. Moreno is a pound-for-pound talent and, despite a knockout loss to Fernando Montiel last time out, Hasegawa isn’t far off. Let’s hope…Pacquiao-Margarito might end up a good scrap but any history being claimed as possible is as hollow as it comes. Winning a vacant belt, at a catchweight, against a Margarito who hardly merits a top ten slot at Jr. Middleweight right now, is as cynical as boxing gets. The WBC’s willingness to sanction the bout and accept the sanctioning fee does not inherently a ‘champion’ make…Well, David Haye finally came out of the woodwork with something to say on the subject of Wladimir Klitschko. It’s a start…Bernard Hopkins-Jean Pascal wouldn’t be the first choice of Light Heavyweight battles, but it’s Hopkins and one never knows what the old man can come up with. Interesting.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
