Sturm retains WBA title!
Saturday, July 5 2008
Defeats Griffin in heated rematch
By Karl Freitag / Photo: Marianne Müller
This time it was clear. WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm (30-2-1, 13 KOs) won a twelve round unanimous decision over Randy Griffin (24-2-3, 12 KOs) on Saturday night at the Gerry Weber Stadion in Halle/Westfalen, Germany. Both fighters came determined to be more aggressive than they were in their first encounter last October, which ended in a draw. Early rounds were competitive and close. Griffin was faster and busier, but Sturm's defense was good and when he landed, the shots were cleaner. Griffin picked up the pace midway through the fight, which suited Sturm, a natural counter-puncher, just fine. The champion had a big round eleven and closed the show with a hard combination to punctuate his 116-113, 116-112, 118-100 victory.
WBO Intercontinental super middleweight titleholder Karoly Balzsay (19-0, 14 KOs) scored a nice fifth round knockout over Jose Alberto Clavero (28-7-1, 14 KOs). Time was 2:17.
WBO Intercontinental middleweight titleholder Sebastian Zbik (23-0, 9 KOs) scored an impressive second round TKO over Mario Alberto Lopez (22-5, 19 KOs). Lopez was down twice. Time was 2:38.
EU super featherweight titleholder Vitali Tajbert (16-0, 6 KOs) outworked Antonio Joao Bento (20-7-2, 10 KOs) over twelve to take a 119-110, 119-110, 120-108 win.
No problems for unbeaten heavyweight Denis Boytsov (22-0, 18 KOs) who dominated Fernely Feliz (23-8, 16 KOs) pounding out a shutdown over ten: 100-90 on all cards.
Light heavyweight Patrick Dobroschi moved to 7-0, 2 KOs with a four round nod over Lubo Hantak (1-23). Scores 40-36, 40-36, 40-36.
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