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Alan Berg
07/07/2005 - Las Vegas
The look on Oscar De La Hoya’s face said it all.
The Golden Boy knew he’d lost to Felix Sturm. Unfortunately for Sturm, the judges didn’t agree.
In June 2004, Sturm was Oscar’s tune-up at 160 before his historic clash with middleweight kingpin Bernard Hopkins. Sure, Sturm had a spotless 20-win record, but for his first fight in the States he gets a date on PPV against De La Hoya: could it be that Sturm was handpicked?
Sturm was known as a solid boxer with a great left jab. But with only nine KOs, surely he had zilch that could separate Oscar from his upcoming lottery ticket.
It was clear that De La Hoya didn’t take the then 25-year-old’s chances seriously. Oscar showed up with a soft midsection, one that James Toney would have been proud of.
With the glory of world titles in five weight divisions, and the task of facing an unknown opponent, De La Hoya seemed to forget that champs have to train regardless of whom they’re facing.
Sturm showed his worth by punishing De La Hoya with the one weapon everyone said he would use – his jab. In fact, Sturm peppered the Golden Boy with 234 punches according to CompuBox, while Oscar managed only 188. After the fight De La Hoya sounded like a fighter who had tasted defeat.
“Everything went wrong tonight…I tried as hard as I can,” De La Hoya said after being announced the winner. In fact all three judges had the fight 115-113. Most at ringside thought either that Sturm was a close winner or that it was at least a draw.
Since that loss Sturm has rolled off four wins in a row, including an easy decision against Spaniard Jorge Sendra last month in a WBA title elimination bout. If Hopkins gets by Jermain Taylor this month, Sturm will probably not get a crack at a second future Hall of Famer, however. ‘The Executioner’ has plans of his own.
Just like last June, Sturm seems to be in an uncertain situation at the highest level. If the young Taylor were to spring an upset and defeat the legendary Hopkins, would he give Sturm a title shot for one of his four belts? Would Hopkins want a rematch with Taylor? Is Winky Wright interested in fighting Sturm?
Sturm is the type of fighter that embodies ‘high risk, low reward.’ While he does carry the accomplishment of giving De La Hoya all he could handle, he’s an upright fighter in the European tradition and doesn’t have much pop in his hands. He does, however, have the ability to function at the top level and can perhaps draw on fan sympathy from his heartbreaking loss.
Taylor-Hopkins will hold the key to Sturm’s future.
Should Taylor win, he’d be as qualified an opponent as anyone. Likely a Taylor-Sturm fight would be hyped by HBO as a continuation of their amateur rivalry, in which Taylor won 19-14 at the 2000 Olympics. A solid undercard such as Wright-Kassim Ouma could justify PPV. Winky is a better attraction than the media will give him credit for after his trio of high profile wins and is looking for big paydays.
Should, however, Hopkins retain his title, the 40-year-old Executioner has made it clear that he wants to move up and challenge Antonio Tarver for the light heavyweight crown. With Hopkins leaving the middleweight division, the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO crowns would all be vacant.
Chaos would begin, as title shots would be handed out to lesser men than Wright and Sturm. That said, Sturm vs. Wright would be one intriguing fight for one or more of the belts; masters of the left and the right jabs respectively.
Another possibility would be Sturm fighting for his old WBO strap (taken by De La Hoya): if Taylor wins and is unable to meet all his mandatory obligations, or if Hopkins vacates, Sturm could wind up in a mandatory title shot. Three of his last four fights have been for his WBO Intercontinental strap, making him first in line whatever happens.
Should this occur, it’s likely that he’d fight for that belt in the relative safety of Germany, where, due to revenue from German, TV boxing is huge and 'world title' paydays are just as big.
Regardless of the outcome on July 16, Sturm’s time is drawing near. The next time he’s on the grand stage, he will cash in.
07/07/2005 - Las Vegas
The look on Oscar De La Hoya’s face said it all.
The Golden Boy knew he’d lost to Felix Sturm. Unfortunately for Sturm, the judges didn’t agree.
In June 2004, Sturm was Oscar’s tune-up at 160 before his historic clash with middleweight kingpin Bernard Hopkins. Sure, Sturm had a spotless 20-win record, but for his first fight in the States he gets a date on PPV against De La Hoya: could it be that Sturm was handpicked?
Sturm was known as a solid boxer with a great left jab. But with only nine KOs, surely he had zilch that could separate Oscar from his upcoming lottery ticket.
It was clear that De La Hoya didn’t take the then 25-year-old’s chances seriously. Oscar showed up with a soft midsection, one that James Toney would have been proud of.
With the glory of world titles in five weight divisions, and the task of facing an unknown opponent, De La Hoya seemed to forget that champs have to train regardless of whom they’re facing.
Sturm showed his worth by punishing De La Hoya with the one weapon everyone said he would use – his jab. In fact, Sturm peppered the Golden Boy with 234 punches according to CompuBox, while Oscar managed only 188. After the fight De La Hoya sounded like a fighter who had tasted defeat.
“Everything went wrong tonight…I tried as hard as I can,” De La Hoya said after being announced the winner. In fact all three judges had the fight 115-113. Most at ringside thought either that Sturm was a close winner or that it was at least a draw.
Since that loss Sturm has rolled off four wins in a row, including an easy decision against Spaniard Jorge Sendra last month in a WBA title elimination bout. If Hopkins gets by Jermain Taylor this month, Sturm will probably not get a crack at a second future Hall of Famer, however. ‘The Executioner’ has plans of his own.
Just like last June, Sturm seems to be in an uncertain situation at the highest level. If the young Taylor were to spring an upset and defeat the legendary Hopkins, would he give Sturm a title shot for one of his four belts? Would Hopkins want a rematch with Taylor? Is Winky Wright interested in fighting Sturm?
Sturm is the type of fighter that embodies ‘high risk, low reward.’ While he does carry the accomplishment of giving De La Hoya all he could handle, he’s an upright fighter in the European tradition and doesn’t have much pop in his hands. He does, however, have the ability to function at the top level and can perhaps draw on fan sympathy from his heartbreaking loss.
Taylor-Hopkins will hold the key to Sturm’s future.
Should Taylor win, he’d be as qualified an opponent as anyone. Likely a Taylor-Sturm fight would be hyped by HBO as a continuation of their amateur rivalry, in which Taylor won 19-14 at the 2000 Olympics. A solid undercard such as Wright-Kassim Ouma could justify PPV. Winky is a better attraction than the media will give him credit for after his trio of high profile wins and is looking for big paydays.
Should, however, Hopkins retain his title, the 40-year-old Executioner has made it clear that he wants to move up and challenge Antonio Tarver for the light heavyweight crown. With Hopkins leaving the middleweight division, the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO crowns would all be vacant.
Chaos would begin, as title shots would be handed out to lesser men than Wright and Sturm. That said, Sturm vs. Wright would be one intriguing fight for one or more of the belts; masters of the left and the right jabs respectively.
Another possibility would be Sturm fighting for his old WBO strap (taken by De La Hoya): if Taylor wins and is unable to meet all his mandatory obligations, or if Hopkins vacates, Sturm could wind up in a mandatory title shot. Three of his last four fights have been for his WBO Intercontinental strap, making him first in line whatever happens.
Should this occur, it’s likely that he’d fight for that belt in the relative safety of Germany, where, due to revenue from German, TV boxing is huge and 'world title' paydays are just as big.
Regardless of the outcome on July 16, Sturm’s time is drawing near. The next time he’s on the grand stage, he will cash in.
to your mom..
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