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On Friday at the ISS Dome in Dusseldorf, Germany, former three belt middleweight champion Felix Sturm suffered another setback as he attempted to win a 160 pound IBF title eliminator.
Sturm was going up against longtime contender Sam Soliman of Australia and uncharacteristically enjoyed a fast start, dropping the durable visitor in the second round.
But Sturm was unable to finish the job as Soliman used his entire arsenal of guts and guile to survive the situation, regaining his bearings to provide the audience with a thrilling bout.
After 12 rounds, the judges at ringside favored Soliman’s busier efforts over Sturm’s accuracy, awarding the Aussie a unanimous decision by scores of 114-113, 114-113 and 116-111.
At stake was a shot at IBF champ Daniel Geale and expect the challenge of Soliman, now 43-11 (17), to provide a massive all-Australian clash with Geale, who is coming off an impressive title defense against former super middleweight world champion Anthony Mundine.
Sturm, now 37-4-2 (16), has suffered two consecutive losses after several shaky wins during the latter period of his second WBA title reign. Still a major box office draw, Sturm will likely continue to get title opportunities.
On the undercard, flyweight Susie Kentikian, 30-2 (16), mounted a successful comeback from losing her WBA Female title last December to Carina Moreno.
Moreno and Kentikian were scheduled to rematch until Moreno was injured in training. Late replacement Sanae Jah, 7-1 (2), of Belgium provided Kentikian with a good fight but lost a unanimous decision to the “Killer Queen”.
With the victory, Kentikian wins the Interim WBA belt.
Also on the bill, former EU super middle champ Lolenga Mock, 31-13-1 (12), famous for going up to cruiserweight and decking future two-weight world champ David Haye in 2003, showed he can still do the business at age 40 by outpointing Patrick Dobroschi, 13-2-3 (4), in a light heavyweight eight rounder.
