Sturm may bypass Golovkin fight for unification bout

By Boxing News - 04/28/2012 - Comments

Image: Sturm may bypass Golovkin fight for unification boutBy William Mackay: WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm (37-2-2, 16 KO’s) is supposed to be facing his mandatory Gennady Golovkin (22-0, 19 KO’s). Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if the 33-year-old Sturm is going to take that fight.

The word now is Sturm will look to fight a unification bout against one of the middleweight champions. The World Boxing Association will likely allow Sturm to bypass the 30-year-old Golovkin because of him fighting fighting a unification bout. Those kinds of fights are given more weight than just regular title defenses.

The big question is who will Sturm fight? Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Dmitriy Pirog, Daniel Geale or WBO interim champion Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam? There are a number of choices for Sturm to pick from, and many of them would appear to be much safer picks than taking on the hard hitting Golovkin.

The thing is if Sturm is able to pick up an easy title against someone like N’Jikam, Sturm can then vacate his WBA title and avoid Golovkin permanently. There won’t be any point in holding onto the WBA title once Sturm has picked up another strap, because he can still have a title in his possession. The WBA title would be useless, and besides it would be more of a danger to hold onto it than to just let it go.

It’s too bad the WBA will likely let Sturm avoid the Golovkin fight altogether by taking a unification bout against a weaker target. Even if Sturm decides to hold onto his WBA title after a unification fight, Golovkin could end up waiting for the remainder of 2012 before he possibly finally gets his chance at Sturm’s belt next year some time.



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