Four-time middleweight champion Felix Sturm added the WBA super middleweight belt to his collection with a controversial 12-round majority decision over defending titleholder Fedor Chudinov in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, on Saturday.

One judge scored the bout 114-114 but was over ruled by two 115-113 cards in the new champion’s favor.

Sturm, who was fighting in his home city, avenged last May’s split decision loss to the Russian pressure-fighter although the verdict has been greeted with disdain by the vast majority of fans and media members.

The challenger did start aggressively, working in hooks to the head behind an effective left jab. Not to be outdone, Chudinov returned fire with his own left and a brisk straight right to the body found the mark regularly.

Much of the first half was waged at ring center with each man taking turns to unload. This made for compelling two-way action although the crowd cheered wildly even when the challenger missed the target.

It was Chudinov’s body punching and volume versus Sturm’s variety and crisper hitting.

Unlike their first encounter, Sturm maintained some intensity down the stretch although he was outpunched in the majority of the closing sessions. Overcoming the German twice on home soil was always going to be a stiff challenge, but Chudinov will feel very hard done by.

Chudinov (14-1, 10 KOs) weighed in on the division limit of 168 pounds with Sturm (40-5-3, 18 KOs) one pound less.

Tom Gray is a member of the British Boxing Writers’ Association and has contributed to various publications. Follow him on Twitter: @Tom_Gray_Boxing