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Born in 1979, Sturm turned pro in 2001, around the time Oscar de la Hoya was training for his comeback fight against Arturo "Thunder" Gatti. In the time span that has encompassed Sturm's entire career Oscar de la Hoya has been involved in 5 professional prizefights and he lost the most recent one to Shane Mosley.
But back to Sturm. He won a version of the Middleweight championship off Hector Javier Velazco (30-3-1, 14KO) by spilt-decision back in September 2003. The fight took place in front of 2500 rabid fans in Berlin, Germany.
An interesting note to mention is that, like Sturm, Jermain Taylor also has a professional record of 20-0 but he has demonstrated legitimate professional power with 15 knockouts including a recent brutalization of the tough Congon, Alex Bunema. The parallels between Sturm and Taylor continue as both fighters began their professional careers on the same day: January 27, 2001.
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Some might respond that 'Taylor's not ready yet,' or 'he needs a little more seasoning, give him a few more fights, then we'll find out.' Well, I would argue that Sturm could use a little more seasoning too. In fact, we'll probably find out that no amount of pepper is going to change the inevitable outcome here.
Does the boxing power structure have us, as fans, convinced that in order to give us a "mega-fight" as in the De la Hoya vs. Hopkins match, they first have to give us the worst possible Pay Per View card imaginable involving the fighters in the aforementioned "mega-fight" Pay Per View? Why do they continue to attempt to fleece us? Boxing fans are some of the most knowledgeable and loyal sports fans around. Why do they expect us to pay for a garbage fight card like this?
And all this at a time when boxing fan's budgets are already taxed by the Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Frankie Randall III Match on Pay Per View card.
And don't say, 'well Hopkins is on the card too...so...' No. We've seen Hopkins fight Robert Allen twice already. Why do we need to pay to see a third time what we suffered through watching twice already nearly 5 years ago? And one fight was a no-contest because TV judge Mills Lane pushed Hopkins out of the ring injuring him. This all makes no sense.
We don't need this fight card at all. Why can't these guys just fight in June? That way Oscar can get his comeback underway sooner.
Besides, wouldn't any self-respecting boxing fan choose to watch Kassim Ouma vs. Verno Phillips on Showtime instead? It's on the same night. The fight is a rematch for the vacant IBF Junior Middleweight Championship and promises to be a much better fight. We could do that, save 50 bucks and preserve our dignity.
An Oscar-Sturm match is starting to look like the "golden days" of Team de la Hoya where Oscar star shone brightly against the "tested" David Kamau and he followed up that devastation with a 3 round blowout of Frenchman Patrick Charpentier. Jim Lampley was so excited that Oscar could knockout Welterweights just like he knocked out Darryl Tyson and Jorge Paez as a young Lightweight.
Soon we'll find out if Oscar can knockout Middleweights too. Cool.
Felix Sturm says this, "He [Oscar de la Hoya] is my idol; I saw so many fights of his on television. Oscar de la Hoya is my idol." Why is this poor kid being put in the position of trying to knockout his "idol"? Not fair.
