Boxing In Germany: Mixed Bag In Hamburg

Felix Sturm once again proved his skill in the ring, this time by outboxing the iron fisted Maselino Masoe to take the New Zealand based Samoan’s WBA Middleweight title on Saturday night at Hamburg’s Color Line Arena. The sharp punching Sturm managed to get in, score points and get out while avoiding most of Masoe’s heavy leather. It’s the second occasion that the German has scored genuine world honors, adding the WBA belt to his former WBO crown that was lost to Oscar De La Hoya almost two years ago in a disputed decision. 39 year old Masoe absorbs only the third reversal in 29 outings while Sturm climbs to 25-1 (11) and will look to entice other world champions into coming to Germany to unify the splintered titles recently held by Bernard Hopkins.

In another WBA title fight, that organization’s bantamweight champion, Wladimir Sidorenko, had all he could handle in the form of his hostile guest from Panama, Ricardo Cordoba. The crafty southpaw, known as “Maestrito” in his hometown of San Miguelito, withstood the champion’s strength and pressure tactics, giving the Hamburg based Ukrainian the sternest test of his nineteen bout career to force a majority draw on the scorecards. Sidorenko, 18-0-1 (6), keeps his belt but will soon share the ring with Thailand’s undefeated WBA Interim titlist Poonsawat Kratingaenggym, the only man to defeat Ricardo Cordoba, who falls to 27-1-1 (18).