By Jason Kim: WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm (36-2-2, 15 KO’s) will reportedly be returning to the ring on April 13th to defend his World Boxing Association strap in a still to be determined venue in Germany. As of yet, there still isn’t an opponent for that date, but don’t expect it to be Martin Murray or Mathew Macklin that faces Sturm. Those fights are likely not going to happen anytime soon if ever.

Sturm recently fought to a controversial 12 round draw with Britain’s Murray earlier this month on December 2nd in a fight that took place in Sturm’s home country of Germany. Most boxing fans felt that Sturm should have lost the fight, but he somehow was given a draw for his poor efforts. In his fight before that, Sturm defeated Macklin by a controversial 12 round split decision in another fight in Germany. Like the Murray fight, boxing fans felt that Sturm should have lost that one too.

If Sturm wants to take on a good opponent he might want to consider facing the WBA regular middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (22-0, 19 KO’s) next, as it would be a huge fight in Germany and Sturm would make a lot of money. However, Golovkin packs a lot of power and there would be a better than average chance that Golovkin would take the judges out of the equation completely by knocking Sturm out. Golovkin hits too hard and would make a mess of Sturm no matter how the fight lasts.

For this reason, Golovkin is probably on the bottom of Sturm’s list as viable opponents for April 12th. Going by Sturm’s tendency to pick from the bottom of the division when defending his title for voluntary title defenses, I’d say it’s highly likely that we see Sturm defend his title against #15 WBC ranked contender Mehdi Bouadla or #12 Gilberto Ramirez. I would include the #14 ranked Lajuan Simon and #13 Giovanni Lorenzo, but Sturm has already fought those lower ranked guys before. My guess is Boudla gets the pick for a nice safe title milking fight for Sturm. Boudla, 29, from France, was stopped in the 6th round by Mikkel Kessler earlier this year in June. Since then, he’s beaten Dimitri Protkunas (11-34-2) and Samir Dos Santos Barbosa (28-7-3).

Sturm, 32, has held the WBA belt for the past four years since beating Javier Castillejo by a 12 round unanimous decision in a rematch in April 2007. Sturm has previously been knocked out by Castillejo in the 10th round a year earlier in 2006. Since recapturing the title, Sturm has been a frustrating champion, failing to take on any of the bigger stars in the division such as Arthur Abraham, Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor and seemingly contend to periodically defend his title against his mandatory challengers, which have been mostly mediocre fighters, and facing the bottom ranked contenders for voluntary title defenses. There’s been absolutely no risk-taking fights for Sturm, as he’s just done what’s been required of him. Despite his lack of important fights, Sturm is a huge star in Germany and his fights are sold out much of the time.