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By Jake Donovan - Giovanni Lorenzo didn’t need to fluently speak or understand German to know that the biggest announcement of his life was about to be made moments after his 12-round vacant title fight last September versus Sebastian Sylvester.
The verdict was a split decision, Lorenzo winning by four points on one card, Sylvester by the same margin on another. Then came the reading of the third card.
“Ein hundert fünfzehn, ein hundert dreizehn, und der neue…”
There was a long enough pause to where Lorenzo had a moment to imagine his name being revealed at the end of the sentence, even if he couldn’t fully translate the words preceding it.
But the final two spoken words were clear enough to know it would be a long plane ride home back to the United States.
“… Sebastian… Syl… ves-ter!”
For his squat German opponent, it was redemption after a failed title bid a year prior against Felix Sturm. Moments after his fight last September, Lorenzo and his handlers pointed out that Sylvester received a second chance after dropping a decisive decision to Sturm, and hoped that their close call in this fight would lead to another opportunity, preferably a rematch to the fighter against whom he narrowly lost.
Fast forward 50 weeks later. Lorenzo receives his second chance. It’s not the rematch with Sylvester that they hoped for, but instead his former rival’s conqueror in Sturm, as the pair of 2000 Summer Olympic boxers are set to square off later this evening at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany in a bout that airs live in the United States on ESPN3.com and ESPNDeportes (4:30PM ET). [Click Here To Read More]
The verdict was a split decision, Lorenzo winning by four points on one card, Sylvester by the same margin on another. Then came the reading of the third card.
“Ein hundert fünfzehn, ein hundert dreizehn, und der neue…”
There was a long enough pause to where Lorenzo had a moment to imagine his name being revealed at the end of the sentence, even if he couldn’t fully translate the words preceding it.
But the final two spoken words were clear enough to know it would be a long plane ride home back to the United States.
“… Sebastian… Syl… ves-ter!”
For his squat German opponent, it was redemption after a failed title bid a year prior against Felix Sturm. Moments after his fight last September, Lorenzo and his handlers pointed out that Sylvester received a second chance after dropping a decisive decision to Sturm, and hoped that their close call in this fight would lead to another opportunity, preferably a rematch to the fighter against whom he narrowly lost.
Fast forward 50 weeks later. Lorenzo receives his second chance. It’s not the rematch with Sylvester that they hoped for, but instead his former rival’s conqueror in Sturm, as the pair of 2000 Summer Olympic boxers are set to square off later this evening at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany in a bout that airs live in the United States on ESPN3.com and ESPNDeportes (4:30PM ET). [Click Here To Read More]