Sturm wants unification bout with Zbik

By Boxing News - 02/21/2011 - Comments

Image: Sturm wants unification bout with ZbikBy Jason Kim: WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm (35-2-1, 15 KO’s) is looking to get a unfication bout against WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik (30-0, 10 KO’s) for his next fight. This would be an all German fight, as both Zbik and Sturm fight out of Germany. However, Zbik, 28, is considered a paper champion by many boxing fans because of the way that Zbik was given the WBC title after the World Boxing Council stripped WBA champion Sergio Martinez, gave him the title as Emeritus champion, and then handed the title to Zbik without a fight.

The theory was that the WBC was doing this to help set up a fight between Zbik and unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. But if Zbik takes on Sturm, it will ruin the Chavez-Zbik fight and put Chavez Jr. in the position where he might have to take on the tougher Sturm if he wants to pick up the WBC title. I don’t think for a second that Zbik will beat Sturm. He doesn’t have the power and his offense is too basic for him to beat a jabber like Sturm.

Sturm had this to say in an interview with fightnews.com: “We hope to make an annoucement in couple of weeks. Sebastian Zbik was recently awarded the WBC belt. I’m sure that would be a great fight and I believe he wants to do it. A title unification between two Germans would be historic.”

Ideally, it would be better if Sturm chose to fight a better champion than Zbik, someone like WBO middleweight champion Dimitri Pirog or Sergio Martinez with his Emeritus status. Martinez is considered the best fighter in the middleweight division, and the fact that Sturm isn’t mentioning him or Pirog is really telling.

Stum has a reputation for facing the lesser threat while the WBA champion. He seems to be continuing with that trend, as last weekend Sturm defeated #12 ranked Ronald Hearns, a fringe contender, rather than a more dangerous top contender. As it was, Sturm took a pounding from Hearns and ended up with a swollen face and busted lip from Hearns. For his part, the light hitting Hearns’ face was badly swollen up from Sturm’s jabs. The fight was close for the first four rounds with Hearns jabbing Sturm repeatedly in the face and landing nice body shots. Sturm began to walk Hearns down starting in the 5th, nailing him with power shots and hard jabs. Hearns continued to fire back with jabs of his own but he began to get beaten up. In the 7th, Sturm walked Hearns into a corner and nailed him with a big right hand that hurt. Instead of covering up, Hearns stood with his guard down while they were in close, appearing to look as if he thought they were about to clinch. However, Sturm followed up with another big right hand against the defenseless Hearns and the shot knocked Hearns off balance and close to falling. The fight was then stopped, as Hearns looked badly hurt.



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