Sturm successful in 4th title defense

The WBA middleweight champion won a lopsided decision.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

HALLE, Germany — Felix Sturm jabbed his way to a lopsided decision over American Randy Griffin and earned a fourth successful defense of his WBA middleweight title.

The German, whose victory comes 81‚Ñ2 months after the two fought to a draw in October, repeatedly used his left jab from the opening seconds and won 116-113, 116-112 and 118-110.

Sturm took control in the fifth round, following his lefts with immediate right-hand blows.

“I had to make this rematch with Griffin,” said Sturm, who improved to 30-2 with one draw and 13 knockouts.

He repeatedly scored with combinations in the 11th, ending the round by thrusting his arms upward in victory as he walked back to his corner after the bell.

Griffin lost for the second time in 29 fights — including three draws — but disagreed with the unanimous verdict.

“I have to live with this decision,” Griffin said. “I thought this fight was more a draw than the other one.”

By the eighth round, however, his corner was telling him he needed a knockout to win.

Sturm has won the WBA title twice. He also lost the WBO title in 2004 to Oscar De La Hoya on a disputed decision.

Holt stops Torres

LAS VEGAS — Kendall Holt survived two knockdowns in the first 35 seconds, then landed a right that stopped Ricardo Torres just over a minute into the first round to capture the WBO junior welterweight championship Saturday night.

The Colombian fighter stopped Holt last September in their first 140-pound title fight, and dropped him with a right to the head just 15 seconds into this one. Holt was knocked down a second time moments later, and Torres could have been deducted a point when he took a swipe at the American as he tried to stand back up.

Not that it would have mattered.

Holt regrouped and landed a left to the body that forced Torres to drop his hands and fall backward off balance. The usually light-hitting Holt then landed a looping right to the head that draped Torres over the bottom rope, prompting referee Jay Nady ref to stop the bout at 1:01 of the first round.

The 27-year-old Holt improved to 24-2 with 13 knockouts, getting a bit of payback for a suspect loss to Torres in his hometown of Barranquilla last September. Holt was leading on all three judges’ scorecards when that fight was halted.

The 28-year-old Torres (32-2) was defending his version of the junior welterweight title for the third time since winning it in November 2006.