Martin Murray came within a whisker of taking Felix Sturm's WBA super middleweight title, only to draw with the German champion.
Englishman draws in Germany as Sturm narrowly retains his title
Martin Murray came within a whisker of taking Felix Sturm's WBA super middleweight title, only to draw with the German champion in Mannheim.
It meant Sturm, 32, retained his belt, but only after being given a real test by Murray who was stepping up to world level for the first time.
The 29-year-old from St Helens produced a tremendous display, trading shot-for-shot with his opponent and going the full distance for only the second time in his 24 fights to date.
Murray was awarded the fight 115-113 by American judge Ted Gimza but, with Jean-Francois Toupin scoring it 116-112 for Sturm and Pasquale Procopio unable to split the pair (114-114), he was left to hope for a rematch if he is to prise the belt off the German veteran.
The early stages of the fight were evenly matched, although Murray did well to keep his opponent at bay for the most part.
But the champion stepped up his game slightly in the fifth and sixth rounds, landing the eye-catching shots and finishing both rounds strongly.
Murray dominated the eighth though, landing a string of shots as the round entered its final minute and developed a swagger as his opponent began to look rattled.
Shuddering uppercut
Sturm landed some crisp shots towards the end of round nine, bursting through the Englishman's guard on several occasions before connecting with a shuddering uppercut.
Murray came out with a strong salvo at the start of the 10th but was handed two warnings by referee Stanley Christodoulou for low puches. The round also saw a rucksack thrown into the ring seconds from the end, landing near the two fighters as the partisan crowd made their displeasure with the Englishman known.
Sturm attempted to work behind his jab but Murray was the man throwing the bigger punches and looked to be finishing the stronger.
However, a dramatic flurry of punches in the closing seconds of the final round saw the German rattle his opponent and he duly celebrated at the bell.
The judges' failure to find a winner meant he remains the champion, but Murray maintained his unbeaten professional record (23-0-1) and emerged with great credit after matching his opponent.
The Englishman insisted he thought he had done enough to get the decision, telling
Sky Sports afterwards: "We thought we'd won but you're in Germany, in his own backyard. We're gutted we didn't get the win but it's expected in Germany.
"We've always known I'm world class, I just needed that chance. I've shown it today, I took a major step up in class but I belong at that level.
"I took a couple of rounds to get into it and get flowing, I eventually warmed into it and went 12 rounds with a good world champion."
