Fedor Chudinov has successfully defended his WBA ‘interim’ super middleweight world title tonight by beating Felix Sturm via split decision in Frankfurt, Germany. The official scorecards were 118-110, 116-112 for Chudinov while one judge had it 116-112 for Sturm. ThaBoxingVoice.com scored the fight 115-113 for the champion.
Chudinov started the fight strong, throwing punches in bunches and with his activity he clearly won the first and second round. Sturm found his rhythm in the third and took the next two rounds with the precise punching he has been so successful with throughout his career.
With the fight all even after four rounds, a few very close rounds took place. The 27-year old champion kept throwing a lot more punches but was also very slow and wild with them. Sturm, on the other hand, had trouble getting his punches off, something that is hurting him in the last few years. But he clearly landed the better punches. Chudinov won the fifth on my card while Sturm nicked the sixth.
The fight changed in the seventh. Not only was the Russian landing the majority of the punches, he also started to land the better punches. Throughout rounds seven, eight, nine and ten, Chudinov put a beating on the 36-year old challenger. These rounds likely sealed the fight for him.
Sturm, desperate to get back in the fight, gave a spirited effort in the eleventh and twelfth. He increased his punch output and tried to walk his opponent down. While he won both rounds on my card, he wasn’t able to hurt Chudinov. In the meantime, the champion stunned Sturm clearly a few times.
After twelve competitive and entertaining rounds, two judges scored the fight pretty wide for the champion while the third judge scored the fight for Sturm. With this victory, Chudinov successfully defended his WBA ‘interim’ title and improved his perfect record to 13 wins with 10 wins coming by way of knockout.
For Sturm, who saw his record drop to 39-5-3 with 18KO’s and only won two of his last seven fights, this might mean the end of his career. A mega-fight with countryman Arthur Abraham seems off the table.
However, in the post fight interview the former four-time middleweight champion sounded resistant and asked for a rematch. Whether Chudinov is willing to give the veteran a rematch or is moving forward to bigger and better teams remains to be seen.
