Felix Sturm, real name Adnan Catic was born on January 31, 1979 in Leverkusen, West Germany. This German boxer made his professional debut on January 27, 2001 in a match against Angolan boxer Antonio Ribeiro, after qualifying for the Sydney Olympic Games six months earlier.
Sturm’s amateur career was also a successful one, with 113 wins out of a total of 122 fights. He was the 1998 German National Light Middleweight champ, placed first during the 2000 Light Middleweight European championships which was held in Finland, and represented Germany during the 2000 Olympics.
Sturm eventually won the WBO Intercontinental Middleweight title on May 10, 2003 and a few months later, on September 13, 2003, he won the match against Argentinean boxer Hector Velasco after replacing injured opponent Bert Schenk for the WBO title. He lost the title to Oscar de la Hoya on June 5, 2004, in a match deemed as one of his best fights ever. However, this defeat was eventually offset by his victory over Maselino Masoe for the ‘regular’ WBA middleweight title by a unanimous decision two years later, on March 11, 2006. Sturm lost this title to Javier Castillejo on July 15, 2006 but won it back on April 28, 2007 in Oberhausen, Germany.
By October he was defending his title against American boxer Randy Griffin at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Hallewestfalen, a bout which ended in a draw after 12 spectacular rounds. Sturm fought Griffin again one year later, in May of 2008, defeating the American boxer after 12 rounds which ended in a unanimous decision at the Gerry Weber stadium.
Sturm has won a total of 34 over his 37 fights, 14 of them by KO, 2 losses and 1 draw. Currently, Sturm is the WBA middleweight champion of the world.
