Felix Sturm

Felix Sturm' (born 31 January 1979 as Adnan Catic) is a German boxer and current WBA middleweight world champion of Bosnian descent. Sturm was born and raised in Leverkusen, Germany, but both of his parents were immigrants from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Professional career

On 27 January 2001, Sturm made his debut as a professional boxer facing Antonio Ribeiro from Angola. Six months earlier he had qualified for the Olympic Games in Sydney, but lost his fight to future middleweight champ Jermain Taylor.

After 16 successful matches, Sturm won the WBO Inter-Continental middleweight title on 10 May 2003. On 13 September 2003, he replaced the injured Bert Schenk in a WBO title bout against Argentinian Hectór Javier Velazco and won the match. Sturm defended the title against Rubén Varón Fernández from Spain.

On 5 June 2004 in Las Vegas, Sturm faced Oscar De la Hoya in a defense of his WBO middleweight world championship. All three judges scored the fight 115-113 for de la Hoya, while Harold Lederman scored the fight 115-113 for Sturm. Compubox counted Sturm as landing 234 of 541 punches, while counting De La Hoya as landing 188 of 792. Sturm protested the decision with the Nevada Athletic Commission to no avail.

On 11 March 2006, Sturm defeated Maselino Masoe for the "regular" WBA...
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