Felix Sturm loses farewell fight against Granit Stein

Granit Stein defeats Felix Sturm in his final fight

The boxing legend bids farewell with a defeat on points in the Porsche Arena against a fiery winner.

How do you imagine the grand finale of a great sporting career on television? Possibly bloodied with a big world championship victory as an underdog, while Silvester Stallone coaches one. But the truth is usually different. The German-Bosnian boxing legend Felix Sturm (45-7-3) also had to experience this on Saturday at the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart.

The five-time world champion faced the hungry challenger Granit Stein (21-2-1) from Ingolstadt for his final fight. It was to be the big farewell: once again to prove one's own boxing skills in front of thousands of spectators and, ideally, to retire with a victory. But even in the run-up to the election of the opponents, it became clear that this would not be an easy project. Stein was considered a hungry and uncompromising pressure fighter who would make life as difficult as possible for Sturm - and that was exactly what proved to be true in the ring.

Activity meets precision

The fight started in Stuttgart and from the beginning you saw an active granite stone. This was to be expected, because as a dance partner for Felix Sturm's "Last Dance" it was necessary to play the party crasher with a high work rate. Stein came out of a narrow but tough defeat in May and accordingly had only a short preparation time, which he made the most of with his new coach Toklir Xhoxhaj.

This paid off right from the start for Stein, who simply seemed more active. Although Sturm responded regularly and scored with the jab, especially on the inside lane, the ex-world champion often had himself worked in the closed double marking. A lot of Stein went to cover, but not everything. Again and again Stein varied his attacks, brought Jabs to the body and then worked with powerful combinations against the double cover.

Nevertheless, Sturm held their own and wanted to say goodbye with a win. The third round was balanced, in the fourth round Sturm scored again and again with explosive counterattacks and was even able to ring Stein in such a way that he briefly lost his footing. It was a balanced fight in the first half of the fight, which offered high tension.

Delivered a strong performance to win over Felix Sturm, Granit Stein. Photo: Marco Baumann

The commentator at Bild+ saw Sturm consistently ahead and praised his high effectiveness. Basically, of course, it's easier if you hit less and then set the pinpricks at the right time - but Stein appeared three times as active at times and also scored again and again.

One could not avoid attesting to Stein's significant increase in activity, which ultimately made it seem irrelevant that some of it went to cover. Due to Sturm's boxing advantages, Stein also tried to make the fight physical, although it sometimes became nickel. Stein pushed Sturm away again and again in the close range or worked head ahead, which is why the referee deducted a point from him in the sixth round.

The fight turned into the home straight and for both men everything was still possible. Sturm tried to counter and exploded several times, much to the delight of the spectators. Overall, however, it was Stein who put more pressure and scored more often. As a result, he dictated and won the second half of the fight for the most part, although not every punch found its way cleanly to the target.

Felix Sturm lands against Granit Stein. Photo: Marco Baumann

The final round began and Sturm tried to set accents again, but mainly it was Stein who dealt out in the ring. This meant that a fast-paced and respectable fight went the full distance of ten rounds. The judges finally scored a split decision for Stein (96-95, 95-94 Stein, 96-93 Sturm), which seemed absolutely justifiable overall. Sturm was in the fight throughout, but rarely found the right answers to the active opponent in the second half.

After the verdict, Sturm did not seek defeat either in the referee or in the case of illness, but proved greatness and accepted the sporting defeat. He didn't leave the ring as a winner – but as one of the greatest German boxers of his generation.

"You wish for a different exit, but that's life," Sturm said reflectively in the interview and added: "The fight didn't go the way we imagined. In the end, only one thing counts: I had a great career, even if I didn't have the degree I wanted."

Great joy at Stein and Fides Sports

Are a successful team in Stuttgart: Granit Stein and Fides Sports.

The mood on the other side was all the more relieved. Stein first referred to Boxen1 once again to the difficult preparation.

"I first shut down for two weeks and then had to completely reorient everything. I really turned over every stone and rearranged everything, changed the coach."

However, Stein never doubted victory.

"You have to beat him by a landslide. That's what I did today, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the win. The more active man made the better strokes and I saw myself nine rounds ahead. Maybe you can give up one or two rounds, if at all."

Fides Sports promoter Burim Sylejmani, who has Stein under contract, also spoke out. After Petar Milas' victory over Granit Shala in January, Fides was once again able to successfully use a large away stage.

"I am overwhelmed by the victory against such a boxing legend. I didn't doubt it for a minute, it was clear to me. I wrapped up the fight even before he lost in May. The defeat has shaken Granit awake and with the new coaches many things have been completely changed. A big thank you to Toklir Xhoxhaj, who did not lead Labinot Xhoxhaj to the European Champion for nothing. I'm just overwhelmed and think that all doors are now open for Granit."

On this special evening, however, Sylejmani did not want to waste any thoughts on the future: "We are just happy and will celebrate properly today. We're enjoying it now and everything else will come in the next few weeks."

Elvir Sendro wins the points for the first time

Elvir Sendro defeats Luciano Falcao. Photo: Marco Baumann

In the co-main event of the evening, Bosnian cruiserweight Elvir Sendro (18-0) was in the ring. Sendro came to Stuttgart with a perfect record of 17 early wins in 17 fights and wanted to continue this series against the Brazilian Luciano Falcao (11-3).

However, it did not develop an easy fight for Sendro from the beginning, as Falcao was very active. Again and again, the Brazilian scored to the body, moved well and tied Sendro in the infight. The first round went to Falcao, before Sendro scored a knockdown out of nowhere with a left hook at the end of the round. It was the first scent mark of his punch.

As a result, a thoroughly balanced fight developed, in which both boxers set their accents. Falcao was initially the more agile man and scored with the jab. In the later rounds, Sendro became stronger and was particularly successful with the left hook. Finally, the fight went the full distance, where Sendro won the unanimous decision victory. The exact verdicts were not read out, but are said to have been close and reflected the fighting accordingly.

Malek Semmo defeats Khamzat Musaev by unanimous decision

Malek Semmo defeats Khamzat Musaev on points. Photo: Marco Baumann

Previously, AGON Sports talent Malek Semmo (6-0) was seen in the middleweight division. The highly talented Semmo inspires with his technically mature approach, which also makes promoter Ingo Volckmann go into raptures. Now his toughest test so far was against the Austrian Khamzat Musaev. The Chechnya-born amateur boxer brought a high pace into the ring from the start.

Musaev consistently looked for the forward gear, but kept running into the actions of Semmo, who acted disciplined from the reverse gear. Semmo scored with his convincing hand speed, but suffered a cut on the side of his eye in the second round and had to fight his way through from then on. To make matters worse, Musaev constantly created pressure and regularly put Semmo on the ropes. Nevertheless, Semmo always found the right counterattacks.

So ended a racy and worth seeing fight over six rounds, in which Semmo scored the clearer hits despite the high activity of his opponent. The judges also saw it that way and finally awarded Semmo the deserved unanimous victory on points.