German Jurgen Braehmer was crowned world light-heavyweight champion on Sunday in a second attempt after a unanimous points win over Marcus Oliveira of the USA.
The judges awarded the 35-year-old German the vacant WBA belt in the early hours of Sunday, scoring the bout 115-112 117-110 117-110 after 12 tough rounds in Neubrandenburg, near Berlin.
The bout was for the vacant WBA light-heavyweight title after previous holder Beibut Shumenov of Kazakhstan was promoted to Super status by the World Boxing Association earlier this year.
Having lost his previous world title bid against ex-WBA champion Hugo Hernan Garay in November 2008, the second of the two defeats of his career, this was Braehmer's second shot at the world title on German soil.
"It has been a hard, long year and I was really feeling it in the last round," said Braehmer.
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"He's never been beaten before and it was a really tough fight."
The start of the fight was briefly delayed as Oliveira took a long time coming out of his dressing room, claiming a problem with his gloves, but Braehmer said the tactics had not affected him.
"I didn't want to get involved in all that kindergarten stuff, it didn't bother me and you saw what happened, I won," said the German.
The previously unbeaten Oliveira, 34, with legendary promoter Don King in his corner, suffered his first defeat in 27 professional fights having arrived with a record of 20 knock-outs in 25 wins with one draw.
"I just kept trying to hit him with a big shot, but he's a smart boxer and it didn't come off," said the disappointed Oliveira.
