Felix Sturm Outworked, Manages To Decision Gevor
By Mark Vester
At the Nuerburgring race track in Nuerburg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm (33-2, 14KOs) retained his title with a unanimous twelve round decision win over Khoren Gevor (30-4, 16KOs). The scores were 115-112 115-113 and 117-111. Gevor appeared to outwork Sturm in most of the rounds.
In the first four rounds, Gevor stood in close and outworked the champion. For some reason, Sturm allowed him to do so and did not establish his jab. There were spots when Sturm would land a punch when he saw an opening but Gevor was much busier and did a lot of work on the inside. Sturm appeared to go down in the third but it was ruled a slip.
Gevor continued to push Sturm back in the fifth with hard combinations. Sturm continued to stay on the inside and allowed Gevor to outwork him. Gevor began to tag Sturm's body pretty hard. The inside battle continued in the sixth. Sturm did better work at the start of the seventh but at the end he was pushed back by Gevor and battered to the head and body. Sturm was unable to back Gevor up in the eight. He continued to stay in and was outworked on the inside, getting backed against the ropes often and outworked there.
After eight rounds were in the books, it appeared that Gevor was gassing out bad. Sturm began to pick up the pace in the ninth, landing some very good uppercuts and inside punches on Gevor. Sturm started to use his jab more often. Sturm himself looked tired after nine. Gevor came back out strong in the tenth, landing punches from all angles to the head and body when the two were on the inside. Sturm staged a rallly in the final minute but Gevor came right back with his own combinations to back the champion up.
Both fighters appeared to sense some urgency in the eleventh. Gevor again appeared to be more busier and landing the better punches. Sturm allowed Gevor to back him up and work him over in the corner and against the ropes. A very common occurance in the fight. By the final minute of the eleventh round, Sturm appeared to be spent and Gevor was still coming and throwing.
The twelfth was more of the same. Gevor doing much of the work on the inside. Sturm came on in the final minute, lanidng good punches when Gevor appeared to tire.