Sydney super middleweight Sakio Bika beats Mexico's Antonio Periban to win world title in New York Sakio Bika celebrates after defeating Marco Antonio Periban during their Vacant WBC Super Middleweight Title bout at Barclays Center. AUSTRALIA has a new world boxing champion with a controversial victory by Sydney's Sakio Bika over previously-unbeaten Mexican Marco Antonio Periban in New York. Bika claimed the vacant WBC super-middleweight title, however the Mexican protested the judges decision following the decision. "I won this fight, and the people in the crowd know I won this fight," Periban said. He's not the champion. That's not justice. He's going to take that belt, and it's going to be a lie. Bika was thrilled to get the points decision. "It means a lot," Bika said. Periban was a very tough guy. I respect him. Like all Mexicans, he comes to fight. It was very hard to survive ... I always work hard. When you are working hard, everything comes out right. In one of the most thrilling fight finishes for years, Bika and Periban, who had both brawled to exhaustion over 12 rounds, stood with hands down throwing wild haymakers at each other until the final bell at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn. Periban, 28, who had dominated early, was getting the worst of it and appeared to be moments away from being decked. Cameroon-born Bika, 34, who became an Australian citizen in 2006, took a split decision with one judge scoring it a 114-114 draw, and the two other judges seeing him a close winner 115-113 and 116-112. The victory was the culmination of more than 20 years of hard work as an amateur and professional for Bika, who settled in Australia after fighting for Cameroon at the Sydney Olympics. He had previously lost world title fights against all-time greats Joe Calzaghe and Andre Ward and suffered a controversial draw in his first world title shot - against Germany's WBC champ Markus Beyer in 2006. The fight was much like Bika's life story. He took some hard knocks early against the fast moving Mexican but simply persisted, marching on and on, overcoming the setbacks to emerge triumphant with determination and courage.