38 year old Spanish warhorse Javier Castillejo walked into the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany after being given very little chance to upset reigning WBA Middleweight titlist Felix Sturm last night but the ex-WBC Light Middle kingpin walked away a winner after stopping the German in the tenth round. Castillejo, 61-6 (41), came into the bout in fantastic shape and almost put the champion away in the second frame when the man from Madrid canvassed Sturm with a crushing left hook. But Sturm, 25-2 (11), came back and began to box largely from the outside, building up a commanding lead as the bout went into the later rounds.

By the tenth stanza, things looked dim for the Spaniard but Castillejo threw caution to the wind and targeted the champion with full blooded power shots, one of which caught Sturm and clearly staggered the younger man. Castillejo wasted no time and unleashed a hail of leather towards his stricken foe, prompting referee Mark Nelson to step in and call a halt to the action at 2:47 of the tenth.

Also on the bill, WBA Bantamweight Champion Wladimir Sidorenko, 19-0-1 (6), outfought that organization's interim titlist Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, 24-1 (15), over twelve rounds to retain his belt for the fourth time.

At heavyweight, Vladimir Virchis, 21-1 (18), knocked out European Champion Paolo Vidoz, 21-3 (12), with a single shot in the sixth round while Ruslan Chagaev, 20-0-1 (17), stopped former British, Commonwealth and European Champion Michael Sprott, 28-10 (14) in the eighth round.

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