Germany is looking forward to this boxing comeback!
After a break of more than four years, Felix Sturm (41) will be back in the ring on Saturday. In Hamburg, the former super champion in catchweight (77.5 kilos, between super middle and light heavyweight) competes against Timo Rost (29) from Düsseldorf, who has been unbeaten in twelve fights. BILD.de will broadcast the fight evening from 7.30 p.m.
Storm is back!
Hardly anyone experienced so many heights (five-time world champion) and produced so many scandals (prison). Despite his long break and his age, he feels in top shape: “I’m full of juice.”
The boxing career
The son of Bosnian-Herzegovinian parents, whose real name is Adnan Catic, began his professional career in 2001. Universum manager Peter Hanraths gives him the battle name Felix Sturm, because the fighter can be better marketed that way.
In 2003 Sturm won his first world championship fight (points victory against WBO champion Hector Javier Velazco from Argentina). A year later he had his biggest fight in Las Vegas against US superstar Oscar de la Hoya, but was cheated out of the victory by the judges. In 2007 he won the WBA title, then the belts of the WBC and IBF associations.
In his last fight against Fedor Chudinov (Russia) in 2016, Sturm became world champion for the fifth time thanks to a controversial win on points. Later it comes out that his doping tests are positive. He returns his title.
Sturm’s professional record:
► 49 fights, 40 wins (18 Ko)
► 5 losses
► 3 draws
► 1 without rating
The scandals
In April 2019, Sturm was arrested at the Fibo fitness trade fair in Cologne and sentenced to three years in prison a year later for tax evasion (around 1 million) and doping. Sturm appeals, the judgment is not yet final. About his eight months in custody, he says: “You have to keep both feet on the ground, not turn the wheel. Then you get along. “
It is not the first time that Sturm has come into contact with the judiciary. In 2004 he was involved in a parking lot fight in Leverkusen, the proceedings were discontinued in return for a fine. In 2015, the public prosecutor’s office investigated suspected incitement to a homicide, and the proceedings were also discontinued.
The family
Sturm has been married to Jasmin since 2006 and together they have a son (Mahir, 11) and a daughter (Nahla, 5). That says how important his family is to him: “The separation from the family was the very worst thing in prison. The first time my wife visited, I cried. “
Germany is looking forward to the storm comeback. Also ex-professional Axel Schulz (52), who analyzes the fight in the BILD studio. He says: “This is how boxing will be revived in Germany.”
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