By Luke Furman
Australian boxing legend and former world champion, Jeffe Fenech, is backing his countryman, IBF middleweight champion, to win the unification bout with WBA king Felix Sturm on September 1 at Koenig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, Germany. Sturm has gone undefeated for the last six years and recently he won several questionable decisions on his home soil, but Fenech doesn't see anything stopping Geale.
Fenech wants the entire country to get behind Geale, calling it the biggest match to involve and Australian boxer in decades.
"And I just hope Aussie sports fans realize exactly how big this is," Fenech told Nick Walshaw. "Forget all our other guys who jump around screaming about so-called world title fights - and I don't have to name them, you know who they are - this really is a legitimate blockbuster. On a world scale, this fight is huge and I just hope the entire country gets behind Gealey because, right now, he's the only Australian boxer who is genuinely keen to go overseas and fight anybody. Who is basically saying 'line them up'.
"He may not have the same profile, hype or money as some of our other fighters, but he's undoubtedly the one taking all the risks to get himself the biggest fights and keep Australian boxing alive. But I believe this is the biggest fight of the lot - and Daniel can win it," Fenech says. "Yes, it's in Germany. Yes, Sturm has been defending his title for years. But Daniel Geale is about to prove to the world exactly how good he is."
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org
