WBA Middle #3 Sylvester stops WBA #2 Castillejo
Sauerland Event Press Release

April 13, 2008 - Sebastian Sylvester clinched a spectacular 12th-round KO victory over Javier Castillejo to defend his European middleweight title. With 67 seconds to go, the Hurricane dusted his opponent with a huge right to the head.

“The fans helped me win tonight,” Sylvester (29-2, 14 KOs) enthused. They were fantastic.” The sell-out crowd of 4.600 fans in Neubrandenburg supported their local hero from the first bell on and raised the roof during a spectacular sixth round when Sylvester rocked the former world champion with several strong combinations.

“El Lince” looked hurt but refused to give in as Sylvester kept punishing him with strong left jabs and big rights.

“The fight was decided after the sixth round,” coach Hartmut Schroder said. “Sebastian did an excellent job. He again proved his class tonight and showed his will to win.” Ever since an accidental clash of heads in the second round, Sylvester had been hindered by a bad cut above his right eye. “Blood kept pouring into my eye and I had to take a lot of lefts from him,” the European champion said. “That made me really angry. But I could not quit, not in front of such a great crowd. That’s why I carried on.”

After the huge sixth-round, Sylvester dominated and picked his opponent apart with his left jab. With the crowd already in party mood, the Hurricane then landed a huge right that flattened the Spaniard with 67 seconds to go.

Castillejo (62-8, 43 KOs) was down for several minutes but could eventually walk out of the ring. “I am pleased with my performance,” Sylvester said. “I tried to take things easy in the last round because I was leading on points but I thought I could give it one last try and then I hit him.”

Next up for the Hurricane will be a meeting with WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm. He probably got sick while watching the fight on” manager Winfried Spiering said. “Our goal has always been the WBA title and we keep marching forward.” And Sauerland managing director Chris Meyer added: “Sebastian will be the new mandatory challenger and we have until October to challenge Sturm.”