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July 5, Halle / Westfalen:
WBA middle champ Felix Sturm retained the title with an
impressive display of slick, sharp boxing against American
challenger Randy Griffin in the headliner of Universum's show
at the Gerry Weber Stadium. It was scored 116-112, 116-113 and
118-110. There were no knockdowns and neither man was hurt
at any time.
Griffin was
under pressure in the last two rounds and had Sturm had more
power he would surely have been stopped in the eleventh round.
At the final bell Griffin also seemed unsteady. Sturm was off
to a good start while Griffin looked a bit rusty and unsure of
what to do. The champion controlled the tempo of the fight
while Griffin's sheer aggression and hard work won him a few
rounds.
Sturm now has 120 days to face mandatory challenger Sebastian
Sylvester, who was ringside and must have been concerned about
Sturm's speed and slick style.
Undercard
Hungarian
super middle Karoly Balzsay knocked out Argentinean Jose
Alberto Calvero at 2.17 of the fifth. Balzsay was ahead on two
score cards and even on the third going into the fifth. Karoly
caught Calvero with what seemed as a good right hook, the
Argentinean punched back but missed and all of a sudden -
several seconds after the punch had landed - seemed hurt and
went down and out. Calvero was totally out if it. Balzsay,
19-0, will surely be on of the contenders for the soon to be
vacant WBO title.
Middleweight Sebastian Zbik, 23-0, stopped brave but outclassed
Paraguayan Mario Alberto Lopez in the second round to retain
the WBO I/C title. Zbik quickly found a home for his left hook
and Lopez was hurt in the second and went down. He was unsteady
as he got up but was allowed to continue. Zbik landed with two
rights and Lopez went down again and as he got up it was
stopped.
Vitali Tajbert retained the EU jr lightweight title with a
one-sided points win over Portuguese Joao Antonio Bento. It was
scored 119-110, 119-111 and 120-108. Bento was outclassed but
never hurt or even stunned. Tajbert can almost do it all - but
lacks punching power.
Russian heavy Dennis Boytsov got a good learning fight in a
ten-rounder from Dominican veteran Fernely Feliz, paced himself
well, showed good power and won every round.
7-05 -2008 |
