It?s becoming increasingly difficult to call someone magnificent who today marks the one-year anniversary of last stepping into the ring?
?It?s more than magnificent ? it?s mediocre.??Samuel Goldwyn
Super middleweight Dimitri Sartison isn?t magnificent, but he isn?t mediocre either.
The 33-year-old (31-2, 19 KOs), a 10-year pro, has fought twice this year, beating Artem Solomko on points in January and stopping Baker Barakat by second-round KO in August. He also fought twice in 2012, stopping Carlos Caicedo by fifth-round KO in February and losing his WBA world super middleweight championship to Karoly Balzsay by 12th-round TKO in April. He?d won the vacant title in 2009 by stopping Stjepan Bozic via sixth-round TKO.
The Hamburg resident?s second career loss came by way of Mikkel Kessler, who won via 12th-round KO in 2008.
WBA, WBC, and Ring super middleweight champ Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KOs) thought Sartison a sufficiently worthy opponent for a bout originally slated for September 28, but now tentatively pushed back to November 16. HBO didn?t see it that way, deeming the Hamburger more of a slider than a Big Mac.
Gennady Golovkin?s trainer, Abel Sanchez, agrees with HBO, telling BoxingScene.com that ?The public is now demanding better fights. The public is now demanding fights that are entertaining and will keep you glued to the TV. And I think with Andre asking for these easy fights, the public is having a hard time with that. We?re in the entertainment business and if you don?t want to entertain then you shouldn?t be on TV.?
Sanchez added that he hopes Ward fights this year, ?so that he?s ready next year for what?s discussed (a fight with Golovkin). But that?s up to Andre.?
Ward?s trainer, Virgil Hunter, told BoxingScene.com that ?What people have to realize is, we?re not looking for a soft touch coming back off an injury (while training for a January 2013 bout with Kelly Pavlik, Ward damaged his shoulder, requiring surgery). Out of Andre?s last six fights, five of them have been world champions. Froch, Abraham and Kessler have been two-time world champions, and Bika is now a world champion, and Dawson was a champion. I don?t think it?s a situation where we have to justify that we want to come in and ease off this injury. The guy that we were initially asking for, Sartison, he?s a former world champion. It?s not like we?re asking for a slouch.?
Both trainers make valid points. But the bottom line is that 29-year-old Ward, regardless of the reasons, hasn?t fought since September 2012, when he stopped Chad Dawson by 10th-round TKO. And the last time he fought prior to that was when he beat Carl Froch by unanimous decision in December 2011.
Ward is almost universally recognized as the best super middleweight in the world, but he can?t maintain that reputation by resting on his laurels. If Sartison isn?t good enough, and Edwin Rodriguez wants too much money, then how about Brandon Gonzales, who fought highly regarded Thomas Oosthuizen to a draw just three months ago? Somebody, anybody, because it?s becoming increasingly difficult to call someone magnificent who today marks the one-year anniversary of last stepping into the ring.
