Sturm retains title
Felix Sturm defended the WBA middleweight title against Khoren Gevor with a hardfought unanimous decision tonight in Nuerberg, Germany, in the headliner of a Universom promotion. Gevor, a southpaw, was the agressor throughout and did well in the some of the early rounds. But Sturm, the superior boxer, covered up well and scored with sharp counters, Gevor became too one-paced and one-dimensiona in the later roundsl and was outboxed. There were no knockdowns. It was scored 115-113 twice and a too wide 117-111. Gevor´s trainer Frtiz Sdunek was right on the money when he said that the agression came from Khoren while Sturm had the cleaner punches. Referee was Frenchman Jean Louis Legland who came in at the last moment when Luis Pabon reportedly had passport problems and Gevor felt the change in referee had a made a big difference and complained openly in the postfight interview. Watching from TV I felt Legland did a good job but that the fight was very close. Sturm was down in the third but it was ruled a slip – there was a punch landing though with Sturm off balance and it could just as well have been ruled a knockdown.
Sebastian Zbik won the WBC interim middleweight title with a close points win over Italian Domenico Spada. It was scored 115-113 twice and 115-114 but could easily have gone the other way in a messy, difficult to scor fight with lots of wrestling on the inside. Spada forced the action most of the way and Canadian referee Michael Albert Griffin could well have done more about Zbik´s holding.
In the third headliner middleweight Gennadyi Golovkin stopped Brazilian John Anderson Carvalho in the second.
In Istanbul, Turkey, welterweight Selcuk Aydin stopped Belgian Jackson Osei Bonsu on a ninth round tko. In a fight between two punchers the man with the best chin won and Aydin had Jackson down in the fourth and ninth. At stake was the WBC Int´l title held by Selcuk, the vacant EBU belt and it was also a final WBC eliminator.
Kessler update
WBA supermiddle champ Mikkel Kessler have indeed agreed with Sauerland Event about a three year contract. However, contrary to what have been stated by Mikkel himself in a video and claimed by Sauerland in press releases the contract itself is not, repeat not, signed yet. According to Danish media that will done after the champ is done with his mandatory defence against Gusmyl Perdomo. Chris Meyer, CEO for Sauerland, declines to comment on the situation while Simon Lundt Hansen, advisor for Kessler, says the deal indeed will get into effect when the Perdomo fight is over with. The WBA have set July 20 as deadline for purse bids or agreement.
While Kessler and his team claims that the the contracts with Team Palle are out of the way there are two lawsuits waiting in a Danish courts.
Meanwhile Kessler stated to media he wouldn´t miss Palle and the now 75-year old Hall of Fame promoter fired right back stating that without him Kessler would never have been where is today. Palle have a valid point as he, along with Bettina Palle, took a 19-year old amateur with 47-3 ledger mostly fought at junior level, to super star status. Many so called experts points out that Kessler never fought anyone besides Calzaghe and perhaps Libdrado Andrade. I dispute that. Kessler was in tough right from the start with matchmaker Mogens Palle carefully but still daring picking a number of good professional fighters that helped the young prospect to develop into a genuninely world class fighter. Trainer Ricard Olsen have been with Mikkel since day one - which is very rare – and also deserves a lot of credit. It´s for now said that Ricard will remain Kessler´s trainer.
Kessler now face Perdomo with site and date to be announced sometime after July 20. Then comes the big supermiddle tournament that first be announced in New York July 13, On July 14 all participants are to be in Copenhagen for a press conference.
But let´s not forget that the court cases could be costly for the champ – and let´s not forget that Gusmyl Perdomo, a huge underdog but a capable fighter, might have some plans of his own.
Kessler might be able to fight even with a contractual dispute in the US but could get a part of the purse witheld by the local commission. In Europe it could be that he´s stopped from boxing by a court order – all depending on the decision of the court (and I´m not getting into who´s right or wrong as no-one outside the two camps seems to have exact info on what the contract actually say).
As for Perdomo, he was taken off tonight´s show in Nuerburg to be ready for the Kessler fight in time.
Eric van der Berg passes
Eric van der Berg passed away July 6 at the age of 66. van der Berg trained for a number of years EBU lightheavy champ Alex Blanchard and middleweight Raymond Joval.
11.07 Sturm retains title
