Adnan Ćatić (born 31 January 1979), known as Felix Sturm, is a Bosnian-German

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. He has held multiple world championships in two

weight classes Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports including Rowing (sport), rowing, Weightlifting#Weightlifting sports, weight lifting, and especi ...

, at

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

and

super-middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, he won a gold medal at the 2000 European Championships in the

light-middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the Intern ...

division.

Amateur career

Highlights

*1997 2nd place at Light Middleweight in German National Championships, losing to Jürgen Brähmer on points *1998 German National Light Middleweight champion, defeating Jorg Rosomkiewicz *1999 competed at the World Championships in Houston, United States; as a Light Middleweight. Results were: **Defeated Andrei Tsurkan (Ukraine) points **Lost to Yermakhan Ibraimov (Kazakhstan) points *1999 German National Light Middleweight champion, defeating Jorg Rosomkiewicz *2000 1st place at Light Middleweight at European Championships in Tampere, Finland. Results were: **Defeated Karoly Balzsay (Hungary) points **Defeated Miroslaw Nowosada (Poland) points **Defeated Dmitri Usagin (Bulgaria) points **Defeated Andrei Mishin (Russia) 3-1 *Represented Germany at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Results were: **Defeated

Dilshod Yarbekov Dilshod Yarbekov (born May 1, 1974 in Samarqand) is an Uzbek boxer, who has won medals at the Asian and World Championships in the middleweight category. He is an Honored Sportsman of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Achievements *1994 – Asian ...

(Uzbekistan) points **Defeated Richard Rowles (Australia) TKO 3 **Lost to

Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed champion in the middleweight division, having defeated Bernard Hopkins in 2005, and in doing s ...

(United States) points He finished his amateur career with a record of 143 wins and 10 losses.

Professional career

Early career

On 27 January 2001, Sturm made his debut as a professional boxer facing Antonio Ribeiro from

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. Six months earlier he had qualified for the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, but lost his fight to future middleweight champ

. After 16 successful matches, Sturm won the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

Inter-Continental middleweight title on 10 May 2003. On 13 September 2003, he replaced the injured

Bert Schenk Bert Schenk (born 14 November 1970 in Berlin, Germany) was a German boxer. Professional career Schenk turned pro in 1996 and won the WBO Middleweight Title on 30 January 1999 against Freeman Barr by 4th-round TKO. Otis Grant had vacated the be ...

in a WBO title bout against Argentinian Hectór Javier Velazco and won the match. Sturm defended the title against Rubén Varón Fernández from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Sturm vs. De La Hoya

On 5 June 2004 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Sturm faced

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born February 4, 1973) is an American Promoter (entertainment), boxing promoter and former professional boxing, professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 list of boxing sextuple ch ...

in a defense of his WBO middleweight championship. All three judges scored the fight 115-113 for De La Hoya, while

Harold Lederman Harold Lederman (January 26, 1940 – May 11, 2019) was an American boxing judge and analyst. He began his career as a boxing judge in 1967 and joined the cast of '' HBO World Championship Boxing'' in 1986, and was there until HBO dropped boxin ...

scored the fight 115-113 for Sturm.

Compubox CompuBox is a computerized punch-tracking system widely used in professional boxing to provide statistical analysis of matches. Established in 1985, it has become an integral tool for broadcasters and analysts, offering viewers quantitative data o ...

counted Sturm as landing 234 of 541 punches, while counting De La Hoya as landing 188 of 792. Sturm protested the decision with the

Nevada Athletic Commission The Nevada State Athletic Commission (also known as the Nevada Athletic Commission or NSAC) regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of Nevada, including licensure and supervision of promoters, boxing, boxers, kic ...

to no avail.

WBA champion

On 11 March 2006, Sturm defeated

Maselino Masoe Maselino Francis Masoe Fao (born June 6, 1966 in Apia, Western Samoa) is a retired Samoan boxer who represented American Samoa at three Olympics starting with the 1988 Summer Olympics. As a professional, Masoe made history becoming the first Sa ...

for the WBA middleweight title by a unanimous decision. Sturm then lost his title against former champion

Javier Castillejo Francisco Javier Castillejo Rodríguez (born 22 March 1968), commonly known as Javier Castillejo, is a Spanish former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2009. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the ...

via TKO on 15 July 2006 but won it back from Castillejo in a rematch on 28 April 2007 by a twelve round unanimous decision in Oberhausen, which he earned after defeating Gavin Topp by TKO in the sixth round. Sturm became a three-time world champion after defeating Castillejo in the rematch. He also fought Randy Griffin twice, drawing with him in their first fight and winning their second fight by unanimous decision. On 2 November 2008, Sturm retained his WBA middleweight title via unanimous decision (118-110, 118-110 and 119-109) over

Sebastian Sylvester Sebastian Sylvester (born 9 July 1980) is a German former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2011 and held the IBF middleweight title from 2009 to 2011. Professional career In March 2007 Sylvester retained the WBA Inter-Continental ...

. He improved to 31-2, with one draw, while Sylvester fell to 31-3. On 11 July 2009, he defended his title against

Khoren Gevor Khoren Gevor (; born Khoren Gevorgyan on 16 March 1980) is an Armenian-born German professional boxer. He held the European middleweight title from 2008 to 2009, and challenged four times for a world title at middleweight and super-middlewei ...

Nürburg Nürburg () is a town in the German district of Ahrweiler, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is also the name of the local castle, Nürburg Castle, which was built in the High Middle Ages. The castle is made of basalt which usually has ...

in 12 rounds. After over a year of inactivity Sturm came back to defend his WBA title against Giovanni Lorenzo, with the winner becoming the WBA "Super" champion. Sturm defeated Lorenzo by a twelve round unanimous decision with the judges giving a comfortable 117-111 twice and 118-111 on the scorecards. After defeating top contenders

Matthew Macklin Matthew Macklin (born 14 May 1982) is a British-Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2016, and has since worked as a boxing manager and commentator. He challenged three times for middleweight world titles between 2011 and 2 ...

and

Sebastian Zbik Sebastian Zbik (born 17 March 1982) is a German former professional boxer and the former WBC middleweight Champion of the world. He resides in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Professional career Zbik won the interim WBC middleweight title against Ita ...

, Sturm lost his WBA title to Australian Daniel Geale. Geale's IBF title was also on the line.

IBF champion

In 2013, Sturm became Germany's first four-time world champion by defeating

Darren Barker Darren Barker (born 19 May 1982) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2013. He held multiple titles at middleweight, including the IBF title in 2013; the Commonwealth title from 2007 to 2009; the British title in 20 ...

in Stuttgart. Barker was in no condition to continue after suffering a serious hip injury. Barker's IBF title was on the line. One month later the Englishman announced his retirement from boxing. In mid-2014, Sturm lost his title against

Sam Soliman Sam Soliman (born 13 November 1973) is an Australian professional boxer, and former kickboxer and mixed martial artist. In boxing, he held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight title in 2014, becoming the oldest middleweight w ...

via unanimous decision. Soliman won by official scores of 110-118 (twice) and 111–117.

Super-middleweight

WBA (Super) champion

In 2016, Sturm defeated Fedor Chudinov by way decision, becoming a two-weight world champion. Later after the fight, the doping samples that were taken from Sturm before the fight were suddenly challenged, however, the sample documents were not complete, as the location, time of arrival was not documented. Due to this inaccuracy, Sturm was not stripped of his titles. He then relocated to

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Doping allegations

Sturm broke the silence two months later with a post which he shared via

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

where he complained about being treated unfairly by the doping investigators. Sturm wrote that he was only informed two months after the first doping sample about the results and that he wasn't told why it took longer than usual (two weeks). After engaging a lawyer who requested all the required documents from the investigators he noticed that the last page was missing, "...where is written, when my sample arrived at the laboratory, who received it and who analysed the sample.", it was written in that social media post. He allegedly didn't get an answer after submitting further inquiries and was denied the right to let the b-sample be analysed by another laboratory. Sturm claimed that the WBA refrained from suspending him because of these irregularities.

Comeback

On 19 December 2020, Sturm had his first fight since February 2016. Sturm dominated opponent Timo Rost throughout the fight and earned a unanimous decision victory, winning wide on all three scorecards. Two of the judges scored the fight 100-90 and one judge scored it 99-91.

Personal life

Sturm was born Adnan Ćatić in

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. The city is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan ...

, Germany. His parents, Ćamil and Zahida, are ethnic Bosniaks who hail from

Blagaj Blagaj may refer to: Places * Blagaj, Mostar (Blagaj on the Buna), a village near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina * Blagaj Fort, a medieval fortress near Mostar * Blagaj, Donji Vakuf, a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Blagaj, Kupres, a vil ...

, having emigrated to Germany in the 1970s. For marketing reasons, Ćatić started as a professional boxer under the stage name Felix Sturm. In addition to German citizenship, he also has Bosnian citizenship. In May 2020, Sturm was jailed for tax evasion and drug use.

Professional boxing record

Television viewership

Germany

US pay-per-view bouts

References

External links

* *
Adnan Catic (Felix Sturm) profile
at leverkusen.com
Felix Sturm – Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturm, Felix 1979 births World Boxing Association champions World Boxing Organization champions International Boxing Federation champions German people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent German sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in boxing Sportspeople from Leverkusen Olympic boxers for Germany Boxers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Living people German male boxers Bosnia and Herzegovina male boxers Light-middleweight boxers World middleweight boxing champions World super-middleweight boxing champions German people convicted of tax crimes 20th-century German sportsmen Sportspeople convicted of crimes German sportspeople convicted of crimes 20th-century Bosnia and Herzegovina sportsmen