Sturm looking for permission from WBA to fight Zbik on April 13th instead of Golovkin

By Boxing News - 02/03/2012 - Comments

Image: Sturm looking for permission from WBA to fight Zbik on April 13th instead of GolovkinBy Dan Ambrose: WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm (36-2-2, 15 KO’s) is looking to get permission from the World Boxing Association to bypass his mandatory challenger Gennady Golovkin in order to take on #2 World Boxing Association ranked contender and former WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik (30-1, 10 KO’s) on April 13th, according to German news site Bild.de.

Sturm, 33, is expected to receive permission to skip the Golovkin bout, which should give the long-time champion Sturm a fairly chance of winning this fight and holding onto his WBA title for a little while longer. It’s remarkable that Sturm has been able to retain the title this long, as he appeared to get beaten in his last two fights against Matthew Macklin and Martin Murray.

However, both fights took place in Germany and Sturm was able to retain his titles in both fights by beating Macklin by a very controversial 12 round split decision last year in June, and then fight to an equally controversial 12 round draw with Murray last December. Sturm likely won’t last too much longer as the WBA champion. Once he has to fight someone like Andy Lee, #3 WBA, or Golovkin, the jig will probably be up. Sturm has held the WBA title since 2007 and has faced largely weaker mediocre opposition during that time, as the WBA has ranked some very limited fighters. Sturm never went out of his way to take on anyone that could potentially beat him like Arthur Abraham, Jermain Taylor, Andy Lee, Dmitry Pirog, Gennady Golovkin, Kelly Pavlik, Hassan N N’Jikam, Marco Antonio Rubio, Darren Barker, Sergio Martinez or Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. during all these years.

Zbik, 29, briefly held the World Boxing Council middleweight title after having the title given to him without a fight by the WBC, who stripped former champion Sergio Martinez of his title for not defending it against Zbik. In his first defense, Zbik was beaten by Chavez Jr. last June. Zbik hasn’t fought since then.

It sure works out well for Zbik. He loses his WBC title to Chavez Jr., sits around and does nothing for 10 months, and then is given another title shot, this time against Sturm. It doesn’t get any better than this. It’s too bad the WBA is going to cave in and let Sturm bypass the Golovkin fight to take on a fighter like Zbik who was just beaten. It seems like the much better fight for boxing would be Sturm-Golovkin. Zbik can’t punch his way out of a wet paper bag and will likely be outpointed by Sturm, but Golovkin can really punch and he would give Sturm a beating no matter what happens in that fight.

Sturm looks to be ducking the Golovkin fight for as long as he can. I just wonder how much longer before the WBA finally forces Sturm to fight him?



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