The Wizard of OZ - Geale Unifies Title

Felix Sturm vs Daniel Geale - WBA and IBF Middleweight Titles


The headline above reads "The Wizard of Oz", well Daniel Geale is the wizard as for the 2nd time he won a world title in Germany BY DECISION. Lets not beat about the bush here, this is a huge achievement by Geale as getting 1 verdict in Germany is hard enough. But 2 decisions??. Back in May last year the New South Wales man came away with a split decision over another German Sebastian Sylvester, a fight that Geale deserved to win although there was a terrible score of 118-110 against him (Geale won 118-110 and 118-112 on the other cards).

That terrible score must have worried Geale before this trip as Sturm in 2 of his last 3 fights retained his titles vs Mathew Mackin and Martin Murray via controversial circumstances. Brit Murray was at ringside last night hoping that Sturm would retain his title as Murray felt he merited another shot at the German after holding him to a draw in December. His plans are now up in smoke as the hard working Aussie ripped away Sturm's WBA crown.

What has to be said about this fight was that Sturm and Geale were well matched. Both have similar skills, good jab, strong body attack and will to win although it was Geales work rate that was the difference in this very close fight. There must have been 6-7 rounds in this fight where the action was so close that they could have went to either fighter OR scored 10-10. The general view was Geale doing more of the work but Sturm landing the cleaner blows.

I gave Sturm the first 2 rounds, only just though. Geale was working hard moving side to side giving himself angles to land his blows. Sturm was landing the harder cleaner punches though, the jab being the primary weapon. The long-time German champion was having a decent 3rd as well before seemingly being hurt late in the round as Geale concentrated in walking forward instead of the angles of the first 2 rounds. The 4th was one of those rounds i mentioned before where it could have went either way, i scored for Sturm although many went with the work rate of Geale. I scored this round to Sturm because of the cleaner blows, something Sturm has had to master as his punch output is never that high.

After the slowest round of the fight, the 5th, Geale again pushed forward knowing that he would need to take the title as he was the away fighter. I had Geale winning rounds 6,7,8 and 9 although going on what i read on twitter and on the fans forums, many felt that Sturm won the 8th?. My reasoning for giving Geale the 8th was that Sturm was landing far too many punches on the gloves. The crowd though were cheering loudly thinking Sturm had landed, something that can sway the fans watching on TV or more importantly the ringside judges.

In his successful titles defences vs Macklin and Murray, Sturm came on strong near the end of the fight. Judging by his effort in rounds 10 and 11 it looked as if Sturm was doing this again. The fight was very close at this point, infact close right through the fight. Entering the 12th it was all up for grabs. Sturm started strong for the first 30 seconds then Geale took over with that impressive work rate. Late in the round he drove Sturm back with jabs and right hands followed by a body attack that was consistent from the first bell. With 30 seconds left both champions just let fly, off balance and going for the home run punch Sturm and Geale went for it, the crowd went crazy urging their hero (Sturm) forward. It wasnt to be as Referee Luis Pabon jumped in between the 2 fighters to end what was a very good Unification middleweight world title fight.


Below as always is my scorecard along with all the press, fans scores that i was able to collect for this close close fight.

Round 1.... 10-9 Sturm
Round 2.... 10-9 Sturm
Round 3.... 9-10 Geale
Round 4.... 10-9 Sturm
Round 5.... 10-9 Sturm
Round 6.... 9-10 Geale
Round 7.... 9-10 Geale
Round 8.... 9-10 Geale
Round 9.... 9-10 Geale
Round 10.. 10-9 Sturm
Round 11.. 10-9 Sturm
Round 12.. 9-10 Geale

TOTAL... 114-114 Draw


Judges Scores: Stanley Christodoulou (SA)..... 116-112 Geale
                        Eugene Grant (USA)................. 116-112 Sturm
                        Dave Parris (UK)....................... 116-112 Geale

DANIEL GEALE WINS BY SPLIT DECISION AND UNIFIES 160LB TITLES


Boxing Press and Fans Forums Scores --- 46 Geale, 19 Sturm, 19 Draw


Fightghost - 115-113 Geale

Fighthype UK - 115-113 Geale

Scott Christ (badlefthook) - 115-113 Geale

Cliff Roid (boxingscene) - 114-114 Draw

Boxing.com - 116-115 Geale

Shaun Brown (boxingscene) - 115-113 Geale

Dan Rafael (ESPN) - 115-113 Sturm

Ryan Bivins (sweetboxing) - 115-115 Draw

Phil D Jay (Worldboxingnews.net) - 115-113 Sturm

Steve Lillis (Boxnation) 115-114 Geale

Steve Bunce (Boxnation) 114-114 Draw

Ron Lewis (The Times) - 115-114 Sturm

Ramon Aranda (3morerounds) - 116-112 Geale

Low Blow Podcast - 115-113 Sturm

The Boxing Tribune - 115-113 Sturm

Danny Winterbotton (secondsout) - 115-114 Geale

No holds barred - 114-114 Draw

Alexi Sukachev (boxingscene) 115-113 Geale

Josh McDaniel (leaveitinthering) 115-113 Geale

Fightnews -  115-113 Sturm

Livefight.com - 115-115 Draw

Tommy Allan (BoxingAsylum) - 115-113 Geale

Tom Gray (secondsout.com) 115-114 Geale

Rob Day (Ringnews24) 115-115 Draw

Danny Flexen (boxingnews) - 117-114 Geale

Saddoboxing Forum - 115-113, 116-114 Geale......*114-114 Draw*

Boxingasylum Forum - 115-113 Sturm, 117-112 Geale....*114-114 x3 Draw*

Livefight Forum - 115-113 Sturm

Ringnews24 Forum - 117-111 Sturm, 116-114 Geale.....*115-115 x2 Draw*

Checkhookboxing Forum - 115-113 x3 Sturm, 116-113 Sturm....*114-114 x4 Draw*

Boxrec Forum - 116-114 x2, 116-112, 115-113 (Geale)...115-114 , 117-114 (Sturm)..*115-115 draw*

Eastsideboxing Forum - 115-113 x8, 115-114 x3, 116-112, 116-113, 116-115 x2, (Geale)
                                        *114-114 x6 Draw*....115-113 x2, 114-112 (Sturm)

Boxingscene Forum - 115-113 x4, 116-112 x2, 116-114, 115-114 x2, 116-113 (Geale)
                                    *114-114 Draw*......115-113 Sturm