Barker-Sturm Reportedly Done For 12/7 in Germany

Well said fire starter....in fact the truth is even worse.
Sturm, a fine, long reigning champion, was hard done by against Murray, Geale and Soliman. Powerful forces obviously don't want the title in Germany.
(Admittedly he got a gift against Macklin).
This abuse of Sturm is One of the biggest scandals in recent boxing history...and no one bats an eyelid!
Hopefully natural justice kicks in here and he gets his title back. I reckon he beats Barker.

 

My 2 cents worth on the Sturm-Barker fight:


Barker - plusses:
Decent boxing skills.
Barker does have a good jab.
Good height and reach.
He is probably more mobile and more versatile than Sturm, with a wider range of skills and punches.
Closer to his peak, younger and fresher than Sturm.
Recent improvement in form.


Barker - minuses:
For much of his career he has been decidedly ordinary.
He has many physical frailties, old injuries, a fairly thin 'reedy' physique that does not inspire confidence etc..
He was in the late 20s before he fought anyone with a pulse. If he is so good why has he not achieved more in his 20's? He reached 30 without any particularly impressive performances.


Sturm pluses:
Great jab. So good it has been a fight winner for Sturm for years.
Size, a big strong middleweight (eg the only boxer so far to drive Martin Murray back).
Tight defence.
Experience ...expert at doing the 12 rounds in the most efficient way, Often closes the show strongly eg Round 12 versus Macklin and Murray. Knows how to catch the judges eye. Nicks rounds.
Toughness, mental and physical, can really dig in when going gets tough (eg versus Macklin).
Proven performer, been at the top for years.

Sturm minuses:
A bit 'wooden' robotic/ predictable.
Relies too much on shell defence.
Unwilling or unable to really 'let his hands go', throw combos etc.
Apart from his great jab, somewhat limited repetoire of other real quality punches.

Conclusion
Barker is on a high after his career-best win versus Geale. But Sturm is also highly motivated to get his title back.
Barker has a good jab. But Sturm has a great jab. Barker is a bit stiff and straight up and Sturm will find him with that jab. That is bad news for Barker. Sturms jab is a fight winner. Barker was able to cope (barely) with Geales flurries in part because Geale did not set up his work with a quality jab. Barker is indeed stronger than Sturm in some areas (versatility, movement, variety, age etc), but the margin between them is not that huge in those areas.
On the other hand, in areas where Sturm is dominant (jab, proven experience, proven toughness and strength etc) he is a lot more strongly dominant over Barker.

My pick: Subject to fair judging...Sturm fairly clear winner on points over 12. (Probably in the 116-112 ballpark area)

What is your pick?

 

depends how shot Sturm is.

I think sturm is a very underated operator but a win for barker in germany is a very good scalp and one he should be proud of if he pulls it off.

 

Pleased to hear this fight has been made. It's a winnable fight for Barker imo and the purse should set him up nicely.

Just wanting to get everyones thoughts on the undercard, do you see Matchroom taking over a fair number of their stable or will it be made up mostly of Germans? I was thinking we might see Ola Afolabi given that he is well accustomed to fighting in Germany, but I've seen that he's fighting in New York in November.

 

I think Barker will finally lay Sturm to rest. He will definitely out battle him.

 

Afolabi is out 2nd November at Madison Square Garden, as for Eddie taking over some of his fighters id imagine he would take over a couple but won't be any of the bigger ones and it will probably just be card fillers.

 

Murray can consider himself lucky he got a draw imo, for me Sturm clearly won the fight.

 

If barkers in the shape he was in vs geale, and works the body like macklin did, hel take the shell defence away from sturm. Barker should be favourite (just) but sturms defo underrated imo

 

You and me both Big Ears :good.

I have a real concern about chicanery being at work against Sturm. Powerful forces are obviously at work to prise the title away from Felix and out of Germany.
How do you see Sturm-Barker going?

 

day/month/year really makes more sense though doesn't it?

 

that's a crazy more like 250,000

 

no chance is Barker going to Germany for 250k

 

It depends on how you want to view it. You can rationalize either method.

Yours of course does incrementally go along in superlative order, day being the smallest unit, month larger, and then year. Strong case to be made for that one being correct.

Ours however is more akin to how it would come across in everyday speech. You rarely - even in British English, unless I'm mistaken? - hear anyone say "seventh of December". It's perfectly acceptable, it just sounds a bit stuffy and overly formal and isn't how people would ordinarily talk. It would be "Her birthday is on December 7th", or "the planes hit the World Trade Center on September 11th..."

So neither is wrong, per se, it's just another "when in Rome" situation. One is more appropriate to use on this side of the pond and the other is best understood on that side.

I can see how being in the British forum people's first instinct may have been to read it as July 12th, but really that should have sent alarms off in one's head and incited a bit of mental flexibility. "July, really? That's quite excessive :blood... I'd expect Barker to return to action more like around November, Decem - oh. There is the penny dropping..."

 

fess up, you lot have it wrong, ib!

maybe month then day is closer to speech (although i regularly hear both) but as soon as something is written down by definition it becomes formalized. funny how the entire rest of the planet agrees with us, not the us!

 

It is definitely well more. Sturm supposedly earns up to £3 million a fight, they will speculate to accumulate, I reckon it's closer to 1.5 million.