Sturm fires a jab between Murray's continually high-held guard

He may consider himself unlucky not to get the win, but Germany’s Felix Sturm (36-2-2, 15KO’s) is still the WBA middleweight champion after drawing with English challenger Martin Murray (23-0-1, 10KO’s) over twelve hard-fought rounds at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany. Although the undefeated Murray deserves all the credit in the World for stepping up so many levels and doing so well, it did seem as if the champion deserved more from the judges than he got.

At no point during the fight was Sturm truly dominant, and Murray, although inexperienced, kept calm and boxed maturely. Looking by far the bigger man, Sturm soon began bringing his right hand in to play behind his jab and out-muscled Murray at times, but Murray never dropped his hands and took a lot of shots on his gloves and arms. Although Sturm was busier he got a little frustrated at times and Murray took advantage.

Murray (right) was always in the fight but didn't show enough urgency

Murray was always in the fight, and as the fight got to the latter stages he seemed to step through the gears a little, banging Sturm to both body and head. In the eighth round a left hook visibly shook Sturm and Murray tried to follow up but by the bell found himself once again on the back foot. Instead of capitalizing on it in the next round he let Sturm right back into the fight. Murray at no point really showed enough urgency and instead looked too relaxed and calm.

As if to put an exclamation mark on his victory, Sturm kept his best punch for the final seconds. A huge right uppercut followed by a looping right hand sent Murray into orbit, but luckily for him there was no time left on the clock and the final bell rang. It did seem to highlight Sturm’s stronger punching and physical strength perfectly but only one of the three judges agreed. Winning on just one scorecard, by 116-112, Sturm managed a draw on the other (114-114) whilst the third judge gave the nod to Murray, scoring the bout 113-115. This though is no fault of Murray’s, who can be proud of a performance that went above and beyond that expected of him.

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