Scorecard: Felix Sturm wins fifth world title with victory over Fedor Chudinov
— -- A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Saturday at Oberhausen, Germany
Felix Sturm W12 Fedor Chudinov
Wins a super middleweight title
Scores: 115-113 (twice), 114-114
Records: Sturm (40-5-3, 18 KOs); Chudinov (14-1, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: On May 9 in Frankfurt, Germany, Chudinov, 28, of Russia, won a split decision against Sturm, 37, of Germany, to claim a vacant world title. After a successful defense in September, Chudinov went back to Sturm's turf to meet him in a rematch. While he got a fair decision in the first encounter, Chudinov was not so lucky in the rematch, losing a majority decision in a fight he appeared to clearly win.
Nonetheless, Sturm claimed the belt and now has won five world titles, including four belts at middleweight and this one at super middleweight. He may not have much time to enjoy it because, according to the Chudinov camp, he has a rematch clause for a third fight, which also would take place in Germany.
Sturm, who came into the fight in an 0-2-1 rut, took a lot of heavy shots from the more powerful Chudinov, who had a powerful right hand working as well as his jab, and he went at Sturm from the outset. Chudinov probably was out-boxed in a few of the early rounds, but he came on very strong in the middle of the fight and appeared to be in command. In the 10th round, Sturm suffered a cut over his right eye as a result of an accidental head butt.
Sturm's best round was probably the 12th, which, according to CompuBox punch statistics, was the only round of the fight in which he landed more punches (24) than Chudinov (22). In fact, the CompuBox statistics overwhelmingly favored Chudinov, who threw -- and landed -- way more punches, in addition to clearly being the heavier hitter. He landed 297 of 1,022 punches (29 percent) while Sturm connected on 184 of 605 blows (30 percent).
Also on the card, former two-time heavyweight title challenger, Francesco Pianeta (32-2-1, 18 KOs), 31, a native of Italy based in Germany, knocked out Hasan Olaki (6-3, 3 KOs), 36, of Turkey, in the fifth round of a ridiculous mismatch. Pianeta got knocked out by Wladimir Klitschko in the sixth round in a 2013 championship fight and by Ruslan Chagaev in the first round in a secondary title bout in his previous fight last July.
Friday at Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Omar Narvaez TKO8 Jesus Vargas
Bantamweight
Records: Narvaez (45-2-2, 24 KOs); Vargas (14-4-1, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In December 2014, longtime junior bantamweight titleholder Narvaez, 40, of Argentina, got blown away by Japanese prodigy Naoya Inoue in the second round to end his title reign. After a 10-month layoff, Narvaez returned in October for a near-shutout 10-round decision against journeyman Diego Liriano. Narvaez, a southpaw, who also had a long reign with a flyweight title, picked up his second win a row as he forced Vargas, 23, of Venezuela, to retire on his stool one second into the eighth round and ended his four-fight winning streak. Narvaez dominated the fight and laid a bad beating on Vargas with a two-handed attack in the seventh round that had him taking shots while looking for cover in a corner. He finished the round but he was done in his corner after the round. Narvaez is now hoping for a rematch with Inoue.
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