Grzegorz Proksa Dominates Sebastian Sylvester, Wins European Title in Three

by Scott Christ on Oct 1, 2011 6:12 PM EDT in Boxing Results and Post-Fight Analysis

Grzegorz Proksa easily captured the European middleweight title today.

England-based Polish prospect Grzegorz Proksa took a big step up in class today against Sebastian Sylvester in Germany, and made it look easy, battering and busting up the veteran German over three, one-sided rounds, before Sylvester pulled out of the fight.

The win gives Proksa (26-0, 19 KO) the European middleweight title. His style had a lot of Sergio Martinez and a little Joe Calzaghe, and he was able to just impose his will on Sylvester (34-5-1, 16 KO) with no trouble whatsoever. The 26-year-old was far too fast, too strong, and didn't allow Sylvester, 31, to do anything at all.

Proksa has all the looks of a potential player at 160 pounds, and should be considered a candidate for top ten in a rapidly changing but still fairly weak division. How good Andy Lee looks tonight (or how bad, I guess) may determine how high of a climb this was for Proksa, but he's definitely in the discussion now.

This may prove to be the end for Sylvester on the major level, but on the other hand, he may find himself in line to face Felix Sturm now, a rematch he's desired for a few years.

Tweet Comment 11 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

The question is if he has a world class chin( like Adamek), because I don’t think he is as slick as Martinez to get away with having his hands down all the time.

"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."

by Zocalo on Oct 1, 2011 6:49 PM EDT reply actions

Give him a couple of fights against top 15ish guys on the undercards of fights at the Prudential center or in NYC to introduce him to the Polish fanbase, and he could be a legit draw. Maybe a matchup against Pirog, if Pirog decides he wants to start fighting real competition again?

by Verklemptomaniac on Oct 1, 2011 6:57 PM EDT reply actions

I'd love Proska-Pirog

Two slick, aggressive eastern european fighters. Who’d have thunk it?

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Oct 1, 2011 7:35 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

This is very impressive

Sylvester went the distance in a pretty close loss against Geale and this kid goes to Germany and blows him out of the water. In the last five years, Sylvester had only lost to Sturm and Geale. In fact, he drew against Karmazin whom I consider to be a decent middleweight.

Proksa/Pirog/Sturm/Geale/Martinez/Golovkin/N’Jikam (and sometime soon maybe Quilin). Even the bottom half of the division led by Rubio isn’t horrible either. I actually disagree with Scott that the middleweight division is weak. Rather, in my humble opinion, it’s grown into a solid division and is probably underrated.

by rantcatrat on Oct 1, 2011 7:46 PM EDT reply actions