STURM SCORES DECISIVE VICTORY OVER
FRAZIER, WANTS WINNER OF HOPKINS-DE LA HOYA
Former WBO middleweight champion Felix Sturm maintained his reputation as one of
the top-3 fighters in his weightclass with a unanimous decision
victory over American Robert Frazier. It was an important night for the 25 year
old German because beside winning the WBO intercontinental title he maintained
his position as most credible challenger to the winner of the Bernard
Hopkins-Oscar de la Hoya megafight which will take place in a few hours in Las
Vegas.
In front of a sellout crowd of 3.500 in his hometown
Leverkusen the intelligent and handsome Sturm redisplayed the skills and the
speed that enabled him to outbox The Golden Boy on most occasions on June 5.
Against the very determined opposition of Robert Frazier Sturm scored with the
more solid shots throughout the fight and hurt his opponent several times deeply
in the two final rounds.
After twelve rounds the three judges Andre van Grotenbruel (Belgium), Robin
Dolpierre (France) and Reynaldo Cadero (Italy) scored the contest 116-112,
119-109
and 117-111
in favor of Sturm.
Felix Sturm, now 21-1 with 9 knockouts, is mandatory challenger of the World
Boxing Organization. The mega fight in Las Vegas between Hopkins and de la Hoya
will be for the unified WBO, WBA, IBF and WBC titles at 160 lb.
Frazier’s record dropped to 30-6-3 with 15 knockouts.
Three months ago Felix Sturm lost a controversial twelve round decision to
boxing legend Oscar de la Hoya. Whereas all experts unanimously agreed that
Sturm beat de la Hoya, the three judges at ringsite scored the the contest
115:113 in favor of the American. Punchstat numbers later showed that Sturm
threw and landed more punches in several rounds that were incorrectly given to
de la Hoya. However, an official protest by promoter Universum was turned down
by the WBO.
“Facing the winner of the de la Hoya-Hopkins fight is what I really want now”,
the former WBO champion said. “I beat Oscar in June and I should be the one who
is fighting a rematch against him tonight or fight against Hopkins for the
title.”
“Felix must face the winner of tonight’s fight in Las Vegas”, promoter
Klaus-Peter Kohl said. “Against de la Hoya he proved that he can beat every
middleweight contender in the world.”
On the undercard in Leverkusen 6 foot 7 heavyweight prospect Alexander
Dimitrenko knocked out American Andy Sample in round two. Dimitrenko who knocked
down his chanceless opponent four times improved his undefeated record to 16-0
with 11 knockouts. On October 16 the 23 year old man with Russian and Ukrainian
citizenship will face American journey man Ross Puritty in Braunschweig.
All Results:
WBO Int. Middleweight Championship:
Felix Sturm W12 (116:112, 119:109, 117:111) Robert Frazier
Heavyweight:
Adnan Serin W6 Bruce Özbek
Cruiserweight:
Mark Hendem TKO2 (2:45) Stefan Kusnir
Cruiserweight:
Alexander Petkovic W8 Damon Reed
Heavyweight:
Alexander Dimitrenko KO2 (1:49) Andy Sample
Super Middleweight:
Lukas Wilaschek TKO3 (2:23) Anton Lascek
Jr. Welterweight:
Ali Ahraoui W6 Tibor Rafael
Heavyweight:
Josef Jakob TKO1 (1:48) Ladislav Slezak
