Felix Sturm vs. Gavin Topp: Felix Returns To The Ring On Saturday Night
Former WBA Middleweight champion Felix Sturm (25-2, 11 KO’s) returns to the ring on Saturday night against Gavin Topp (20-2-2, 4 KO’s) at the Estrel Convention Center, in Berlin, Germany. This will be Sturm’s first bout since losing his WBA middleweight crown to Javier Castillejo, in July 2006, a bout that Sturm was stopped in the 10th round. Unfortunately for him, Sturm performed badly in that fight, being exposed by Castillejo, who proved that Sturm couldn’t handle heavy pressure. More than that, however, Castillejo showed that Sturm has almost zero ability to fight on the inside.
Not surprisingly, Sturm attempted to become more aggressive in his next bout, against Javier Castillejo. Yet, it didn’t work for Sturm, as he was severely punished by the more offensively skilled Castillejo, who used his busy, two-fisted style to build up a lead going into the late rounds. By then, however, Sturm decided to throw out his newly aggressive style and go back to what he does best - jab, circle and run. It looked horrible to watch, as always, but this time, it was only marginally effective.
You see, Castillejo had studied Sturm’s tapes and knew that he has a tendency to circle to his right, almost like a programmed robot. So, finally, in the 10th round, with Sturm looking frightened and exhausted from Castillejo’s fierce attacks, Sturm tried to circle to his right, hoping to escape yet another attack. That’s when Castillejo stepped in and intercepted Sturm’s retreating path, and met him with a big left hook, followed by three uppercuts, all of which connected to Sturm’s head. The referee quickly jumped in to halt the bout, at that point, seeing that Sturm could no longer protect himself.
In taking on Gavin Topp, it seems to indicate that Sturm is going back to the drawing board. Topp, 33, is being brought in as a confidence builder for Sturm, while at the same time, allowing for him to work on some of his problem areas, like his inside fighting. However, at this point, it would seem doubtful that Sturm can ever improve much in that area, being that he’s 27-years old and his fighting style would seem to pretty well established. Sturm, in my opinion, should stick to what brought him to the top, namely, staying on the outside and using his excellent jab to dominate his opponents. Do I think he’ll ever be good enough to beat the top Middleweights, like Jermain Taylor or Winky Wright, no, I don’t. However, other than those two fighters, I would pick him over the rest of the bunch, easily. I see him beating Javier Castillejo, in a rematch, just as long as Sturm doesn’t try to slug it out with him like before. Following this, I see some good potential fights down the road, possibly against Edison Miranda, or Arthur Abraham, both of which are popular in Germany.
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Posted November 28th, 2006 l 86 Views
