The 43-year-old lost the elimination match against Hungary’s Istvan Szili, who was four years his junior, on points in Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle and thus missed the duel with Britain’s Lerrone Richards for the association’s world championship belt IBO. Szili secured it, and the majority of the judges saw him ahead after twelve rounds. The super middleweight Sturm has already been world champion five times, albeit in the major associations WBA, WBO and IBF.
End of career coming up?
“It was a tough fight. Something completely different from what I expected. Unfortunately, it was very dirty, the referee unfortunately let it go. But I’m a sportsman and I accept the verdict,” said Storm. He did not want to commit himself to a possible end to his career: “I’m talking to my family now, I’m still healthy. We’ll sit down with the promoter and then make the right decision.”
Cut hampered storm
As early as the third round, Sturm was marked by the fight, but not by a goal from Szili. The referee interpreted an action by the Hungarian as an accidental headbutt, which caused a cut in a storm. The ex-world champion continued boxing in his typical wait-and-see style, trying to gain control of the fight. However, his cutman had difficulty stopping the bleeding over his left eye, and the seventh round had to be stopped with 38 seconds left. Only with the consent of the ring doctor was Sturm allowed to continue the fight.
Szili became more and more offensive, worked on Sturm with furious punch combinations. Shortly before the end of the eighth round, the Hungarian got through with a hook, and Sturm wobbled alarmingly for the first time. Contrary to Sturm’s hopes, Szili didn’t get tired in the final rounds and confidently pushed his style through to the end. Ten seconds before the end of the fight, Szili threw up his arms in triumph.
Returning after almost five years of ring break
At the end of 2020, Sturm had returned after a ring break of almost five years and won two fights before the duel with Szili. Previously, Sturm, who had been in custody for over eight months in 2019, was sentenced to three years in prison in April 2020 for tax evasion, violation of the anti-doping law and bodily harm. That was shortened to two years and four months at the end of the previous year.
Source: dpa