Geale beats Sturm to unify MW titles

Quote :

IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale of Australia outpointed Felix Sturm with a split decision to take the German's WBA title in their unification bout on Saturday night.

Judges Stanley Christodoulou and Dave Parris scored it 116-112 in favor of Geale, and Eugene Grant had it 116-112 to Sturm.

"The judges scored it that way, you have to accept it. That's boxing," Sturm said. "Geale punched more, I landed the cleaner hits ... he boxed superbly, gave all he got."

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.

The 31-year-old fighter appeared more active throughout, ducking and evading Sturm's heaviest blows though the defending WBA champion managed to deliver some of his powerful left jabs.

Geale was left with a small cut after the second round, while Sturm had a cut under his left eye from the eighth.

Sensing a close decision, both fighters stepped up the pressure in the final round, which ended in a flurry of punches.

Geale raised his arm as the bell sounded on a bout that could have gone either way. The decision was greeted by a chorus of whistles from the partisan crowd.

"Felix has been a world champion for a long time. It was a tough fight," said Geale, 28-1 with 15 KOs.

Sturm, a 33-year-old German of Bosnian descent, dropped to 37-3-2 with his first defeat since 2006, when he lost to Javier Castillejo. Sturm won the WBA title back from the Spaniard the following year and successfully defended it 12 times, each time in Germany.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/8327456/ibf-champ-daniel-geale-beats-felix-sturm-claim-wba-title

Won some money betting on Geale

It was a close fight.

its pathetic that they attempt to pass anyone other than Martinez off as the champion

Birdofthad wrote:

its pathetic that they attempt to pass anyone other than Martinez off as the champion

Sturm was the WBA holder before Martinez even won a title at Jr Middleweight.

The only real champion out there IMO is Wladimir.

Yeah way to many belts out there.

Ali wrote:

Birdofthad wrote:

its pathetic that they attempt to pass anyone other than Martinez off as the champion

Sturm was the WBA holder before Martinez even won a title at Jr Middleweight.

The only real champion out there IMO is Wladimir.

completely disagree, Bernard Hopkins unified the title. Was the legit man, lost to Jermain Taylor, who lost to Pavlik who lost it to Martinez.

Who then went on and KOd P Williams, he is the legit champ at middleweight

Birdofthad wrote:

Ali wrote:

Birdofthad wrote:

its pathetic that they attempt to pass anyone other than Martinez off as the champion

Sturm was the WBA holder before Martinez even won a title at Jr Middleweight.

The only real champion out there IMO is Wladimir.

completely disagree, Bernard Hopkins unified the title. Was the legit man, lost to Jermain Taylor, who lost to Pavlik who lost it to Martinez.

Who then went on and KOd P Williams, he is the legit champ at middleweight

By the time the Taylor rematch came around Hopkins was starting to get stripped of his titles, after that Taylor and Pavlik didn't really defend the titles against legit top ten guys.

Wladimir has been the only true champion out there who's defended his crown time and time against against top ten challengers.

Ward could soon join him if he stays at SMW.