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FELIX STURM vs GIOVANNI LORENZO
LORENZO, STURM: Challenger has the power advantage.
Sturm -350; Lorenzo +280
Over 9.5 -200; under 9.5 +160

Felix Sturm is back in action on Saturday, boxing for the first time in 14 months in his middleweight title defence against Giovanni Lorenzo in Cologne, Germany.
 
Sturm was inactive while involved in litigation with the once powerful Universum outfit and now promotes his own fights in partnership with Ahmet Öner’s Arena Box-Promotion. Saturday’s fight is a homecoming of sorts, taking place close to Sturm’s hometown of Leverkusen.

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ROMAN 'ROCKY' MARTINEZ vs RICKY BURNS
MARTINEZ: He's won in Britain before. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
Martinez -295; Burns +185
Over 10.5 -145; under 10.5 +125

Home advantage will help Scot Ricky Burns when he challenges junior lightweight champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez in Glasgow on Saturday, but the heavy hitting champion from Puerto Rico has won in Britain before.
 
The fight, on the same show as John Simpson’s featherweight bout with unbeaten prospect Stephen Smith, is intriguing, and promoter Frank Warren has delivered a strong double-header to launch the new season of weekly fights on Sky Sports in the U.K. although the switch from Fridays to Saturdays means that European boxing fans will now be faced with fights clashing on TV on a Saturday night. (The Felix Sturm-Giovanni Lorenzo fight in Germany will be televised at around the same time as the Sky show, for instance).

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CASSIUS BALOYI vs MZONKE FANA
BALOYI: won last time
Baloyi -165; Fana +145
Over 11.5 -180; under 11.5 +150

Cassius Baloyi and Mzonke Fana, well-matched South African veterans, meet in a rematch for the vacant IBF junior lightweight title on a big show at the Carnival City resort on Wednesday. With four competitive, world-class fights on the bill this is one of the strongest South African shows in recent memory.
 
Baloyi, 35, beat Fana on a majority decision two years ago. One judge had the fight even but the other two scored widely in favour of Baloyi.

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IVAN CALDERON vs GIOVANNI SEGURA
CALDERON has the skill and experience advantages. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
Calderon -180; Segura +140
Over 10.5 -185; under 10.5 +155

There usually comes a time when great champions with long winning runs suffer their first loss and it always comes as something of a surprise. Antonio Cervantes losing to Wilfred Benitez, Eder Jofre to Fighting Harada, Pascual Perez to Pone Kingpetch, Ruben Olivares to Chucho Castillo, Wilfredo Gomez to Azumah Nelson, are all fights that come to mind in which champions who had been winning title fights almost as a matter of routine left the ring as ex-champs.
 
One wonders if Ivan Calderon might be coming to the end of his long winning sequence. The Puerto Rican southpaw is a magnificent boxer but at 35 he is at an age when a fighter in the lighter weight classes can suddenly not so much grow old overnight but become old enough to lose a fight they would once have won.

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WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO vs SAMUEL PETER
KLITSCHKO, PETER: A more explosive Wlad this time?
Klitschko -650; Peter +400
Over 10.5 +120; under 10.5 -140

The big criticism of Wladimir Klitschko has been that, while he is undoubtedly effective, he can be cautious to a fault. With such a big, powerful heavyweight, fans expect to see the big guns wheeled out far sooner than is usually the case with “Dr. Steelhammer”.
 
Perhaps we will see Klitschko opening up earlier in his rematch with Sam Peter in Germany on Saturday. Klitschko has apparently assured his trainer, Emanuel Steward, that in this fight he will be more offensive-minded than in the past.

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