By Matt Stein: Having been out of action for more than a year because of problems with his promotional company, World Boxing Association middleweight champion Felix Sturm (33-2-1, 14 KO’s) will finally be returning to action on September 4th against number #4 WBC ranked middleweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio (47-5-1, 40 KO’s), according to fightnews.com.

The fight will be taking place in at the Lanxees-Arena, in Cologne, Germany. Sturm, 31, last fought a year ago in July, defeating Khoren Gevor by a 12 round unanimous decision. Before that, Sturm had defeated Koji Sato, Sebastian Sylvester, Randy Griffin and Jamie Pittman in his four prior fights.

As you can see, Sturm’s opponents have exactly been the most exciting. This is why it’s hopeful that Sturm will now start seeking out a career-defining opponent so he can make some of the big money in the division. You can’t blame Sturm for wanting to take it easy in his first fight back from his year layoff. However, once Rubio is behind him, Sturm needs to step up and start looking to take on the big names in the middleweight division like Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams, Kelly Pavlik, and even Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Sturm’s number #1 contender is Australian Anthony Mundine. That would be a great as well, as would a fight against Sturm’s number #2 challenger Gennady Golovkin. Those are the guys that Sturm needs to fight, not the obscure fighters that he’s been feasting on for much of his career.

Rubio, 30, is a decent fighter. His claim to fame is a 9th round stoppage loss to Pavlik in February 2009. Other than that, most of Rubio’s wins have come against B level fighters. His best wins have come against Enrique Ornelas, Rigoberto Alvarez and Jose Luis Zertuche. Rubio can punch a little, but he doesn’t have huge power and his boxing skills leave a little to be desired. He’ll have problems with Sturm’s jabs and I can’t see him doing much other than taking shots all night long and occasionally landing a right hand every now and then. Sturm needs to start stepping it up. It’s been ages since he fought anyone decent and he’s throwing his career away fighting obscure opponents. It’s making it possible for him to hold on to his WBA middleweight title, to be sure, but he’s not making the huge money he could be making if he were to get fights with guys like Pavlik, Arthur Abraham, Williams and Martinez.