WBA Super-Middleweight World Title: Felix Sturm MD12 Matthew Macklin
It's never been easy to go to Germany and win a title, and it's just possible that had the fight been elsewhere then Macklin would have walked away with the belt. Having said that, it's not that he was robbed, more that it was a very difficult fight to score.
Macklin had the better of the early rounds, crowding the Champion and reducing the gap so much that for the majority of the time they were head to head and all the work was done inside. The pattern was set during these rounds with Macklin working harder and landing more punches, but Sturm able at times to step back, gain himself some room to work, and then land the classier and cleaner shots.
As the fight wore on Macklin slowed down and this gave Sturm more space and with that the fight slowly started to move his way. Macklin was still putting the work in but was being caught more often and more cleanly
The pace hardly let up all fight and by the time the bell went to close the 12th it was difficult to know which way it would go. In the end the judges opted for quality over quantity and so Sturm kept hold of his belt. However Macklin showed he belonged at this level, and on another day in another country could now be World Champion.
As an Ingle fighter whose hero is Naseem Hamed you would expect Kell Brook to have a similar swagger and unorthodoxy about him but in this fight he showed he has orthodox skills that could take him a long way. Up against an operator who has fought at the highest level he dominated the fight from the opening bell with heavy, accurate punches and speed that was too much for the older man.
Fighting in an orthodox stance for the majority of the fight Brook used the jab to good effect, going straight through the guard of N'Dou, and often either doubling it up or following it with a straight right. He kept his distance well, continually moving, and landed enough shots early on to slow N'Dou down, to the extent that at the halfway mark there was talk of a first ever stoppage.
Having never gone beyond seven rounds it was a journey into the unknown for Brook but apart from a breather in the 9th he kept the pace up and never looked tired or in trouble. N'Dou by contrast had to dig deep after being hurt in the tenth and rocked again at the end of the eleventh, however he maintained his record of never having been stopped, albeit staying upright at the end by sheer force of will (and a certain amount of holding).
This was a highly impressive performance from Brook and a clear sign that he's on his way to greater things. He won all but one round against a fighter who has fought the best but may have gone one fight too far. This was a fight between two men who are going in opposite directions, and it's possible Brook may go all the way to the top.
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