Felix Sturm and Robert Stieglitz battle to grueling draw in Germany

Felix Sturm was the crowd favorite, and the more accurate puncher. Robert Stieglitz was the aggressor, and seemingly the stronger man. But in the end, there wasn't enough to split the two, and the judges came back with a draw on scores of 115-113 Stieglitz, 115-113 Sturm, and 114-114. BLH had it 114-114.

Sturm (39-4-3, 18 KO) was making his first appearance above 160 pounds after a strong decade-long run as a top middleweight, while Stieglitz (47-4-1, 27 KO) had been at this weight for those same 10 years. The fight wasn't quite at the super middleweight limit, with a catchweight of 166.45 pounds.

Any size disadvantage didn't seem to particularly trouble Sturm, though, and he was able to fight tooth-and-nail with a former super middleweight titlist and an established, longstanding contender in the division. Sturm's uppercuts were able to keep Stieglitz respectful, though not overly so, as Stieglitz marched forward for the vast majority of the fight, throwing a lot of looping, wide hooks.

Early on, Sturm's gloves cut down a lot of Stieglitz's offense, and his accuracy was key. But as the fight wore on, Stieglitz's relentless approach wore on Sturm. That may owe to the extra weight, but it was also in line with many of Sturm's recent efforts, where he's been blowing hard by the end of the night. He was here, too, but also like those other fights, it didn't keep him from fighting hard. He kept fighting, though Stieglitz was able to take over down the stretch.

My card gave Stieglitz rounds nine through 11, with the 11th round positively electric, a brutal back-and-forth that saw both leave everything in the ring. Sturm took round 12 to salvage the draw on my card.

How did you have this one? Do you want to see a rematch, or should Sturm look to strike while the iron is at least warm, and go after a title?