Hamburg – Germany can be glad about a new and popular boxing superstar: Felix Sturm. In a dramatic fight in front of 7,000 spectators at Color Line Arena of Hamburg the German snatched the WBA middleweight title from reigning champion Maselino Masoe from New Zealand with a clear and unanimous twelve round decision and certainly put himself in the group of the most popular athletes in Germany.

The three judges had Felix Sturm ahead by two, six and six points. Stanley Christodoulou (South Africa ) and Raul Caiz Jr. (USA) scored 117:111. Gustavo Padilla (Panama) scored 115:113.

It was the second world title win for Sturm who already held the WBO version of the 160 lb. crown from September 2003 through June 2004 until he lost a disputed decision to Oscar de la Hoya.

But fierce feelings were a matter of past at least since his new imposing title win on Saturday in the Northern German metropolis. Inside the packed Color Line Arena only enthusiasm was ruling.

"I'm proud and happy about my new world title", Sturm said after the fight. "Masoe was as strong as I expected him to be. My fights against him and Oscar de la Hoya were the hardest of my career. In such a significant fight it's important to stick to the game plan. I hit him often and hard but he never gave up."

Challenger Felix Sturm was a clear favorite at the sports books prior to his fourth world title fight. The 27-year-old German was given this bonus over the reigning champion Masoe because of his impressive “loss” to de la Hoya and his four convincing victories thereafter.

"If I could select I would like to fight a rematch against de la Hoya", Sturm said after improving his record to 25-1 with 11 knockouts. Masoe dropped to 26-3 with 25 knockouts.

Earlier that evening another championship of the World Boxing Association took place, the organization that celebrated their annual convention in Hamburg in the preceding week. Wladimir Sidorenko, WBA bantamweight champion, defended his title wafer-thin against his dangerous challenger Ricardo Cordoba in a dramatic fight with a close majority draw verdict over twelve rounds. The official scores were 114:114 twice and 118:111 for Sidorenko.

Sidorenko set his record to 18-0-1 with 6 knockouts. Cordoba’s record reads 27-1-1 with 18 knockouts after this fight.

Sidorenko must now face Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym from Thailand later this year, the man who beat Cordoba in August 2005 by split decision.

In the highly anticipated WBA/WBO international showdown between unbeaten heavyweights, Ruslan Chagaev of the Universum stable edged Spotlight fighter Vladimir Virchis by majority decision over twelve rounds. It was obvious that both fighters had high of respect for each other’s punching power which gave the fight a very cautious undertone, and only within the last three rounds they were willing to risc a bit more.

The scores of this rather uneventful and tactical fight were 115:114, 116:112 for Chagaev and 114:114.

Chagaev is now 20-0-1 with 16 knockouts. Virchis dropped to 20-1 with 17 knockouts.

All Results:

WBA Middleweight Championship:
Felix Sturm W12 Maselino Masoe
(117:111, 117:111, 115:113)

Middleweight:
Mahir Oral W8 Arsen Khachatrian
(77:75, 77:75, 77:75)

Super Middleweight:
Mario Veit W8 Jevgenijs Andrejevs
(80:72, 80:72, 80:72)

WBA/WBO Int. Heavyweight Championship:
Ruslan Chagaev W12 Vladimir Virchis
(115:114, 114:114, 116:112)

Heavyweight:
Aleksander Alekseev TKO2 (1:28) Andrey Zaitsev

WBA Bantamweight Championship:
Wladimir Sidorenko D12 Ricardo Cordoba
(114:114, 118:111, 114:114)

Heavyweight:
Volodia Lazebnik TKO5 (2:59) Raymond Ochieng

Super Featherweight:
Matt Zegan W8 Geoffrey Munica
(79:73, 78:74, 79:73)

        
-Photo Credit: Andre Boge-