-Photo Courtesy of BoxRec-

Back in June  of 2004, a champion relatively unknown to most American fight fans, WBO middleweight ruler Felix Sturm, had the courage to come to Las Vegas, Nevada, to defend his title against the "magical' Golden Boy, Oscar de la Hoya.

I'm not so sure how the arrangements came about, since Oscar had never fought at that weight prior to meeting Mr. Sturm or since, but I do recall having watched that fight with great interest and at the end of 12 rounds, coming to the realization that Mr. Sturm had been jobbed. Not many boxing writers gave Sturm his due, nor did they acknowledge that the German has one of the best jabs in the sport of boxing, after all, like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Oscar de la Hoya was "magical." Most knew better, but they still needed to believe...

Here we are almost five years later, and while Sturm has continued his uphill battle, having lost only one fight to Javier Castillejo, Mr. Sturm has remained the WBA Ordinary Middleweight champion of the world. Hmmm... why is the word "Ordinary" associated with any title in the grueling sport of boxing? Who knows, but back to my story... Sturm has won 13 fights, including a unanimous win over Xavier Castillejo nine months after having lost the "Ordinary" title to the courageous Spaniard champion.

While Felix Sturm won 13 challenges, Oscar de la Hoya won two fights: 1) to light punching Stevie Forbes and 2) to a burnt out Ricardo Mayorga. Oscar also lost three more fights, one to business partner Bernard Hopkins, to Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr.,  (still a thorn on his side although he has a problem admitting it), and last but not least he retired, (gasp!),  on his stool, surrendering to Manny Pacquiao after taking the worst beat down of his career from the Filipino fighting machine.

What's the point? you may be asking... Well, the point is that now, after all these years, many of my colleagues have found it safe to give Sturm the credit he deserved all along, some even acknowledging something I said in my fight report. Felix Sturm has one of the best jabs in the game. In addition, I may be in the minority on this, but be that as it may, I do believe Sturm beat Oscar de la Hoya.

Like so many other things in life, it is not where you start, it is where you finish, and while Oscar has made more money than he knows what to do with, he has to live with the fact that what started out as a magical career has ended up as a sad joke. Three publicists, count them, three of them, went at their PC's with a passion to let us know Oscar was about to make an announcement regarding his career... How sickening! I have nothing against a person earning a pay check, but goodness gracious do we need three people to send out the same press release? Actually, what difference did it make? We all knew what was coming, Manny Pacquiao stripped Oscar of whatever pugilistic pride he may have had left. (And I thought the business with Hopkins and the "leever" shot was bad!)...

It was painful and funny at the same time to watch Oscar trying to explain away the unexplainable. He stood at the dais with his face contorted and his pride severely challenged. We all know Oscar has made millions. My question to the fans is this, has he really earned the millions? Did he really deserve the hefty pay checks, the adulation, the magical aura that seemed to have followed him for so long?

I am proud of myself for having called the Sturm fight the way I really saw it, for not pursuing ad money or any favors from promoters like Oscar, because that frees me to call things as I see them.

Oscar, please, stay retired, continue your charitable work, raise your brood and respect your wife as she deserves. More importantly, worship boxing fans: they have given you so much, and in the end, you just couldn't live up to the hype....

My congratulations to Felix Sturm, who successfully defended his title against Koji Sato, (14-1, 13 KOs). Sturm remains a champion, in spite of the loss that his record shows against Oscar de la Hoya. His professional record 32-2-1, 14 KOs.