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Omar Sheika came to Germany in hopes of upsetting WBC supremo Markus Beyer last night but the American instead failed in his fourth and possibly final world title bid. The willful brawler from Patterson, New Jersey found the three time WBC champion impossible to tag with flush shots and found nothing but leather in return for his efforts. A short, cagey southpaw, Beyer largely picked apart Sheika’s efforts to take the bout into the trenches and had the American visitor on rocky ground in the eighth stanza but could not finish the big hearted Sheika, settling for a decisive points victory. In the main co-feature, former two time light welterweight world title challenger Oktay Urkal continued his march on the welterweight division, retaining the European belt in the face of a challenge by former champion Maxim Nesterenko. Urkal, fighting in front of a hometown Berlin audience, proved too quick for the seasoned Ukrainian veteran and posted a close unanimous decision. Nesterenko did have his moments however, having Urkal on the canvas late in the bout, and only lost by a single point on one of the scorecards.
In getting past Sheika, Beyer moves to 33-2 (12) and has now retained his WBC strap for the third time during this, his third title reign. The thirty-four-year-old German from Cologne has fought for the green belt on eleven occasions, winning all except a twelve round stoppage at the hands of Englishman Glen Catley in 2000 and a narrow split decision loss to Italy’s Cristian Sanavia in June of last year. Although not having quite the best resume in the super middleweight class, Beyer’s list of victims is none too shabby, with Sheika joining Eric Lucas, Richie Woodall, Danny Green, Andre Thysse and Sanavia (gunned down in six by Beyer in a rematch).
For Urkal, the win over Nesterenko marks the first defense of the European title won by outlasting France’s Frederic Klose in May. 12 of Urkal’s thirty-nine professional bouts have either been for major world or full European honors, with the thirty-five-year-old coming up empty handed against only two men, Kostya Tszyu and Vivian Harris, both world champions at light welterweight. Despite the recent high level successes at welterweight, Urkal’s best days may be behind him. The German took everything such heavy-handed bomb throwers like Kostya Tszyu and Eamonn Magee had to offer without blinking in 2001 and 2003 respectively but Urkal has now been down in three of his last four matches. Should the Berliner continue to win and then secure a title shot against either unified champion Zab Judah or WBO tiltist Anthony Margarito, future canvas trips would almost be guaranteed but recovery from those knockdowns may not be part of the bargain.
Contact Curtis McCormick at thomaspointrd@aol.com
