Comments Thread For: Felix Sturm Arrested in Germany, Accused of Tax Evasion

[Kali_KO]

He should have fought GGG, then he would have enough money to pay his taxes

[Doritos]

Murray & Macklin robbed vs Sturm in Germany

N he was robbed in his biggest career fight vs Oscar which would have given him a payday big enough that he wouldn't be facing tax evasion charges right now.

[Commie]

He is about to fight Abraham in a money grab fight then evade the taxes again
Sturm avoided Golovkin at all costs having Bad memories about two knockouts suffered in training camp

[Tatabanya]

N he was robbed in his biggest career fight vs Oscar which would have given him a payday big enough that he wouldn't be facing tax evasion charges right now.

As much as I dislike De La Hoya, Sturm didn't really win that fight. At least, not convincingly enough.

That says a lot about the actual level of Mr. Adnan Catic, considering that the Golden Boy had admittedly trained on donuts for that one.

Over the years Italy, Germany and (of late) even the UK have been featuring fighters who build their careers against second and third tiers to get called "world champions" when they win a minor title. Sturm is just one of the hundreds of examples in that sense.

[Ray*]

So he was caught using steroids? Then instead of reporting to the police he left the country and returned to his country of origin? Never knew all of this.

[Citizen Koba]

As much as I dislike De La Hoya, Sturm didn't really win that fight. At least, not convincingly enough.

That says a lot about the actual level of Mr. Adnan Catic, considering that the Golden Boy had admittedly trained on donuts for that one.

Over the years Italy, Germany and (of late) even the UK have been featuring fighters who build their careers against second and third tiers to get called "world champions" when they win a minor title. Sturm is just one of the hundreds of examples in that sense.

I'm about as far from a Sturm fan as you can be - dude's a drug cheat, as well as having apparently bribed his way onto the WBAs protected list, but he was a solid boxer... good fundamentals and a very good jab.

I'm wondering how you think the career building process is different in these various European nations than it is elsewhere though... that's pretty much how it works right across the globe. Only difference is that if you're an exciting prospect based in the US you're gonna get noticed and hyped by the US audiences sooner and there's a significant segment of US boxing fans that think that anything happening outside of the US might as well not be.

Who are these dudes supposed to fight on their way up? Course they're gonna fight other guys from the region. You expect 'em to pay top $ to ship in recognised US network fighters to build prospects in Europe? That makes no sense.

[Tatabanya]

I'm about as far from a Sturm fan as you can be - dude's a drug cheat, as well as having apparently bribed his way onto the WBAs protected list, but he was a solid boxer... good fundamentals and a very good jab.

I'm wondering how you think the career building process is different in these various European nations than it is elsewhere though... that's pretty much how it works right across the globe. Only difference is that if you're an exciting prospect based in the US you're gonna get noticed and hyped by the US audiences sooner and there's a significant segment of US boxing fans that think that anything happening outside of the US might as well not be.

Who are these dudes supposed to fight on their way up? Course they're gonna fight other guys from the region. You expect 'em to pay top $ to ship in recognised US network fighters to build prospects in Europe? That makes no sense.

No, I didn't exactly mean that. I should have expressed my concept with a different phrasing. Indeed the "building up" of a career must necessarily include the has-beens and tomato cans, no question about it.

To avoid writing a whole book on the subject, just think of fighters such as Patrizio Oliva, Gianfranco Rosi, Jurgen Braehmer, Sturm himself, Sebastian Sylvester.. these are just a few of the many names that I could list. They were all called "world champion" at some point, but throughout their career they were systematically kept well distant from the real challenges. And whenever this didn't happen, they inevitably lost.

Basically, it's just another demonstration of the practical uselessness of an alphabet title in order to establish if a fighter is great or not.

[yoshik]

I hope he gets away Scott Free...
Fucc the IRS! They just some greedy bastards, ... 🤣

YES!! As I was thinking it you were writing it. F U C K the IRS. And FDA, FINRA, SEC, FBI, DOJ et al.

[yoshik]

Sturm was solid. SOLID. Don't judge him about taxes. There are walking time bombs in the US and past greats that got nabbed due to BS promoters "managing" their money. Euro fighters don't have the exposure that American fighters do. I could imagine Sturm against many of the US MWs and see him beating many. We are seeing the Eastern Euro fighters LIGHTING UP the world. It's all how they are positioned. I am very happy that Hearn is on the rise. Thank God for K2. WAAAAYYYY too many people that think they know WTF dissing these guys. You are all just jealous.

[Citizen Koba]

No, I didn't exactly mean that. I should have expressed my concept with a different phrasing. Indeed the "building up" of a career must necessarily include the has-beens and tomato cans, no question about it.

To avoid writing a whole book on the subject, just think of fighters such as Patrizio Oliva, Gianfranco Rosi, Jurgen Braehmer, Sturm himself, Sebastian Sylvester.. these are just a few of the many names that I could list. They were all called "world champion" at some point, but throughout their career they were systematically kept well distant from the real challenges. And whenever this didn't happen, they inevitably lost.

Basically, it's just another demonstration of the practical uselessness of an alphabet title in order to establish if a fighter is great or not.

Mmmm. Yeah I hear you with that one, although sitting on a strap and refusing to fight outside your country is hardly unique to Europeans and there's paper paper champs from everywhere... but yeah, Braehmer, Sturm, a few others seem to have been entirely happy earning a comfortable living in the Deutschland.

Sturm I guess has some claim to feeling like he was hard done by in the US - I get that you don't agree but I saw him beating DLH, though Oscar never belonged at 160 and was anyway 2/3 shot by that time.

Personally I always rated Braehmer higher than most - dude's a canny boxer -folk'll laugh but I see him as a kinda Euro BHops - great at smothering his opponents work and slipping in sneaky powerful shots from angles they ain't expecting. Never got to the bottom of whether his failure to travel was just lack of ambition or whether his criminal record was anything to do with it. I think he would have done well against the likes of Pascal and Cloud in the shambolic American LHW division of c.2013 before Kovalev and Stevenson smashed their way to the front of the queue.