In EPIX television?s second fight broadcast ever, Felix ?Leonidas? Sturm, fighting in front of a hometown crowd at the sold-out Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, goes to 36-2-1 (15 KO?s), hanging on to his WBA middleweight title in a terribly judged split decision victory over Matthew ?Mack The Knife? Macklin 28-3 (19 KO?s) of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Not sure what judges Roberto Ramirez and Jose Ignacio Martinez were watching, who both scored the fight 116-112 for Sturm, as the defending champion?s punch output was so absolutely dismal compared to Macklin?, that supposedly even German television had conceded the victory to the gritty Irishman by as many as four rounds.
The remaining judge Levi Martinez would score it 115-113 for ?Mack The Knife,? who visibly out threw and out landed the defending champion by a significantly wide margin in just about each and every round, backing Sturm up throughout to stun the champ with a body shot or two along the way, while never on the receiving end of anything that would put the challenger at risk. Most impartial observers had Macklin winning at the very least 7-8 rounds. Is it any wonder then that American title holders such as Roy Jones Jr. would never venture to fight in Germany, especially when called out numerous times by Dariusz Michalczewski, a belt holder and top light heavyweight at the time who was never willing to make the trip over to the U.S. himself.
In a bout that would see Sturm land the harder shots, which at most he may have landed two or three blows during any given round, the rest was all Macklin who found openings around and in between Sturm? tight defense on a repeated basis, throwing punches and bunches to back Sturm up regularly, keeping the champion on the defensive throughout. After the first few rounds where observers thought maybe Sturm needed to warm up to get going, he never was afforded the opportunity as Macklin would close the gap and go head to head with Felix, smothering the champion to nullify any use of his vaunted jab or other shots, while Macklin was simply the busier fighter for the duration. Stated Macklin in a post fight interview, ?I thought I was the clear winner. I told Felix, give me a rematch because I beat you.? Macklin? trainer Joe Gallagher would chime in, ?one judge got it right, but it?s a shame the other two didn?t.?
Much to the surprise of commentators and others, Sturm, somewhat delusional, somehow thinking he had pulled out the victory with a better second half performance than his opponent, stated, ?I promised him a rematch in November or December.? Whether a rematch comes about or not, I don?t know if the Macklin camp would be interested in having that fight take place anywhere near Germany after a clear cut robbery had taken place. Sturm would assert that he would like to fight in the United States at some point, but with the performance he put on this day, he wouldn?t be much of a draw except for the fact that he has a title to put on the line, no matter how devalued that title has become. Perhaps he should put up his flawed title against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., owner of another gift title that was stripped from the real champion Sergio ?Maravilla? Martinez. To put it politely, neither Chavez Jr. Nor Sturm would fare well at all. against the Ring Magazine middleweight champion Martinez. To put it bluntly, if they do decide they want to face Martinez in this day and age, a can of you know what is going to be opened up.
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