FELIX STURM W12 GIOVANNI LORENZO

The big boxing action was in Europe last weekend with title fights in Germany, Scotland and Slovenia but U.S. fans were able to see Felix Sturm’s middleweight title fight with Giovanni Lorenzo on ESPN Deportes (also online at espn3.com, coverage that is available only to fans with American internet providers).
 
Sturm always looked like being on a different level to Lorenzo based on their respective fights with Sebastian Sylvester (Lorenzo lost to Sylvester while Sturm outclassed his German rival). This was one of those fights where the form line proved to be accurate.
 
I thought that Sturm looked exceptionally strong and his left jab was a thudding weapon (tremendo was the word used in the Spanish-language commentary). Sturm’s left hand was slamming back Lorenzo’s head all through the fight, while the German boxer whipped in some sharp left hooks, upstairs and down.
 
Lorenzo was busy at times with combinations, especially to the body, but he could never really penetrate Sturm’s high guard with punches to the head. Sturm was keeping the challenger backing up and even briefly looked like stopping him in the 11th round. Lorenzo was looking tired and his swollen eyes showed the effects of Sturm’s drumbeat left hand. The challenger from the Dominican Republic showed heart to rally in the 12^th, when Sturm surprisingly seemed to run out of steam. Lorenzo let his hands go and staged a spirited finish to the fight but of course it was far too little, far too late, and the 117-111 score of two of the judges seemed appropriate.
 
Sturm is now promoting his own fights, assisted by Ahmet Öner of Arena Box-Promotion, and his spectacular entrance seemed to have been inspired by the Klitschko Brothers’ theatrical productions although the heavy-metal screaming that accompanied his ring walk is not to everyone’s taste. Sturm put on a show and fought a solid, technically proficient fight. It was all that could have been hoped for in his first bout in more than a year after a contractual dispute with his former promoter, Universum.
 
The best fight of the weekend, though, was the junior lightweight championship war in Glasgow that saw Ricky Burns survive a first-round knockdown to defeat Roman “Rocky” Martinez on a unanimous and well-earned decision.
 
Burns fought the fight of his life. He not only outboxed Martinez but often outfought the bigger puncher. It was rousing stuff, a treat to watch. Martinez seemed on the verge of overpowering Burns in several rounds, the seventh and ninth in particular, but the Scottish boxer rallied strongly to back up the Puerto Rican puncher as the crowd roared him on.
 
I started out liking Martinez to win but switched to Burns after viewing the weigh-in video. Burns had the look of a winner, smiling in a confident way when Martinez made the throat-slitting gesture, and I suggested a wager on the Scottish boxer in the subscribers’ section.
 
The Commonwealth featherweight title bout between Stephen Smith and John Simpson on this show was a tough, tense and gripping bout that saw the relatively untested Smith go beyond eight rounds for the first time in taking a split decision win in a mild upset.
 
Simpson had the experience and Scottish home-ground advantage but Smith, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the amateurs, had the look of a fighter who could be a bit special. I picked Smith in a preview exclusively for subscribers but it could have been scored either way, with Sky TV's Jim Watt making fellow-Scot Simpson a one-point winner.
 
Scores of 116-114 in favour of Simpson and 116-114 in Smith’s favour reflected the closeness of the contest, with judge Ian John-Lewis making Smith the winner by a surprisingly wide margin of 116-112.
 
Smith got off to a strong start with fast, sharp boxing, Simpson came back to land some solid right hands and right uppercuts, then the Liverpool challenger pulled out his biggest round of the fight in the 10^th to land a series of jarring right hands. I thought that Smith outhustled Simpson in the 12^th but a draw would not have surprised me.
 
I thought that Smith showed impressive maturity after getting cut over the right eye from a clash of heads in the third round — he never lost his composure. Simpson’s pressure took Smith out of his smooth-boxing style somewhat in the middle rounds but the challenger gritted it out, looking a bit “untidy” as the British say but landing hard punches to stay in the fight, and a left hook to the body seemed to have Simpson on the verge of taking a knee in the closing stages of the sixth.
 
This was an outstanding double header by promoter Frank Warren and got the British boxing season off to a thrilling start.