IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale of Australia defeated Felix Sturm on a split decision to take the German's WBA title in their unification bout on Saturday night in Germany. Judges Stanley Christodoulou and Dave Parris both scored the bout 116-112 in favor of Geale, while Eugene Grant gave it 116-112 to Sturm. Geale also won his IBF belt on a split decision in Germany, and he was making his third defense of the title he won by beating Sebastian Sylvester in Neubrandenburg last May. Geale improves his record to 28-1 with 15 KOs. Sturm, a German of Bosnian descent, drops to 37-3-2 with 16 KOs after the 33-year-old's first defeat since 2006.
Photos
Photos: Geale Ends The Long Title Reign of Felix Sturm
Comments
macmanMon Sep 3, 2012, 8:16 AM UTC
No-one going to mention that this was genuinely excellent boxing match?
Top-class stuff from beginning to end, fought at a very fast pace while maintaining a very high quality - good stuff from both guys!
Personally had Geale by a point, but wouldn't of argued with a draw, & wouldn't of been surprised by a narrow win for Sturm.
And while there is plenty of options on the table for Geale now, a rematch would be as good as the first in my opinion.
Great weekend for boxing, with the big contests matching or exceeding the promotional hype, & I hope the run continues...
Johnny_DoughMon Sep 3, 2012, 1:13 AM UTC
I won $1,500.00 on Geale yestaday, I should take dat man out for a drink. Sturm been done for a while, some of da decisions he got, I mean really? Forget about it, he toast.
ADozenArrowsMon Sep 3, 2012, 12:33 AM UTC
The future is not bright for Sturm. It will be verry difficult for him to win another title. The best thing he could do now is fight Abraham for a last payday and get knocked out.Martinez and Golovkin would knock him out 100%, propably even Chavez jr.
If Golovkin gets pushed by HBO to fight the Ward-Dawson winner and Chavez jumps to 168 win/lose/draw against Martinez, I think there will be plenty of vacancies to fill.
TobiGSun Sep 2, 2012, 6:00 PM UTC
The future is not bright for Sturm. It will be verry difficult for him to win another title. The best thing he could do now is fight Abraham for a last payday and get knocked out.Martinez and Golovkin would knock him out 100%, propably even Chavez jr.
raskatSun Sep 2, 2012, 3:59 PM UTC
I'm still surprised they actually gave the decision to Geale.I didn't think this was as close as the Murray and Macklin fights,but Geale didn't exactly dominate him and Sturm has always been given the benefit of reasonably close fights in his own backyard.
the Sturm-Macklin fight wasnt close it all. it was a highway robbery in which Sturm only won maybe 3 rounds in reality.
