Urkal, a Silver medallist of the Olympic Games of Atlanta, was facing a serious test in Noto, who was putting a lot of pressure on him and who attacked with wild hooks, that Urkal avoided with quick reflexes and mobile footwork. Frederic Noto, 144 lb / 65.5kg, obviously tried to realize his prediction that he intents "to reestablish the French pride", after Urkal also defended Noto's countryman, the French champion Frederic Trip. But even though he tried very hard he was not able to handle the excellent boxing skills and the speed of Urkal, 142 lb / 64.5kg, effectively enough.

Oktay Urkal, who is holding the WBC International title, improved his unbeaten record to 21-0 (8 KO´s), whereas Frederic Noto dropped to 16-4 (5 KO´s). The final scores were 77:75, 77:76 and 78:75.

"I'm not really satified about my performance", the determined German-Turkey Urkal commented after the fight. "My wife was ringside for the first time. This distracted me. I'm no robot, who always makes everything right. I also missed my trainer Fritz Sdunek [who currently prepares Dariusz Michalczewski in Bremen for his defense on 3 April]."

Oktay Urkal is ranked number 3 in Europe, number 6 by the WBC, number 3 by the WBO and number 8 by the IBF. He will likely get a European title shot this year.

On the undercard former German heavyweight champion Kim Weber scored a fifth round knockout over American journeyman William Morris. Weber, 228lb/103.3kg, who is currently on a comeback trip from a loss in summer of 1998, connected with a right hand to the chin that dropped Morris, 233lb / 105.5kg, for the full count.

Weber improved to 26-1 (19 KO´s), whereas Morris dropped to 16-18-1 (2 KO´s).

In the main event female world champion Regina Halmich succcessfully defended her title with a first round knockout over Argentinian Lourdes Gonzales.

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