On a big night at the fights at Koenig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen last evening, Felix Sturm and Segiy Dzinziruk handled dangerous opponents and retained world titles.

Sturm, 36-0 (22), proved the superiority of his skills as he kept challenger Sebastian Sylvester at arm's length with the jab over the second half of the bout and managed to punish the European titlist when distance was closed as he cruised to the fifth defense of his WBA Middleweight title.

Sylvester, 29-3 (14), managed to get to Sturm early but couldn't keep up the high energy approach and fell behind, chasing the champion and eating Sturm's jab enroute to a 119-109, 118-110 twice loss.

WBO Light Middle titlist Dzinziruk, 36-0 (22), had trouble with the massive power shots of Colombian challenger Joel Julio, 34-2 (31), in the early going but the Ukrainian southpaw began to time his opponent and avoid the big punches in return to bring home the points decision 117-111 and 116-112 twice.

Argentine light welter slugger Marcos Rene Maidana, 25-0 (24) put out another opponent on the undercard, spearing Mexico's Silverio Ortiz, 19-12 (9), with a body shot, producing a second round KO.

The Cinderella story of Tony Thompson's world title dreams came crashing to the canvas in the 11th round last night at a packed Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany, courtesy of one too many right hands from IBF/WBO/IBO Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Thompson began the bout with plenty of gusto, successfully taking the fight to the champion in the initial frame, but was prevented from gaining too much momentum as Klitschko clinched and slowed the action down.

Klitschko was wary of Thompson, even more so after they were both cut from a clash of heads in the early going, but managed to regain control of the bout behind the jab and occasional sharp right cross.

Thompson tried to shake up the proceedings behind a body attack in the middle rounds, and although he enjoyed some success, the American couldn't dictate the pace of the fight as Klitschko found range just often enough to stay in the driver's seat. More...