Hey BS2, a year ago I was talking to a co worker. The subject turned to boxing and Felix Sturm came up. He told me that Felix was Bosian. I thought he was joking. Then he told me his real name and sure enough, he was really Bosian, just took a German sounding like name to market himself better in Europe, specifically Germany. Then He told me he was Bosian. He is a great person and speaks 3 languages. Bosian, English and Russian. Sturm by the way has one of the best jabs in boxing. I wish he would step up and demand a fight with either Martinez or Chavez. I suspect he now thinks Chavez Jr has improved too much. A Sturm vs Martinez or Chavez fight would be huge in Europe.
Yes, Felix's birth name is Adnan Catic. He is a Bosniak (that is, white Slavic Muslim from former Yugoslavia) born in Leverkusen, Germany.
I'm a huge Felix fan and have been since I first saw him fight in 2003 or 2004 (quite a long time ago now, wow time flies) against Oscar De La Hoya. Felix was robbed that night. He then won some nice fights (picking up a title) in Germany before he was shockingly upset and knocked out by a 37-year-old Spaniard, Javier Castillejo. Credit where its due Felix got the rematch and won back his title.
Felix's career has thus been one of ups and downs. He's a very solid tactical fighter, but he is lacking some punching power, durability, strength, and stamina at times. You're absolutely right that he has one of the better jabs in the sport.
Although Felix Sturm is not A level like Klitschko's, Lebedev, Povetkin, Sergio Martinez, Joe Calzagher etc. He has been a titlist off and on since 2004, thats quite impressive. I also feel that he has beaten some decent opposition and should receive more credit from Boxing Media and American fans than he does. Felix is usually regarded as a "can crusher" and champion who fights bad opposition.
Yes, to an extent Felix has taken some easy fights but its no different than what many Black American Champs do. (ie Austin Trout). And atleast Felix wins his fights, and doesn't need the judges to rob other fighters (Cloud/Campillo, Cloud/Johnson, I thought Black American Tavoris Clkoud lost both of those fights).
Felix Sturm is very popular in Europe, he has a noted celebrity friendship with German footballer Lukas Podolski. Felix Sturm, along with the Klitschko Brothers, Art Abraham, and perhaps Marco Huck and Alex Povetkin are the biggest names in Boxing in Germany.
A couple years back, an Abraham/Sturm fight would have been ***HUGE*** but it never happened. Thats boxing. At the time Abraham would have been significantly favoured to win, but now that Abraham has 3 losses, looking back, you'd probably have to give Felix a chance to outbox him.
Marco Huck technically is not Bosnian, because he was not born in Bosnia-Herzegovina. However, he is an ethnic Bosniak from an area in Serbia which has a high concentration of Muslims. So, you could say he is Slavic Muslim, Bosniak, or Bosnian-Serb.