Sturm faces Zbik on April 13th

By Boxing News - 04/02/2012 - Comments

By Allan Fox: WBA World middleweight champion Felix Sturm (36-2-2, 15 KO’s) will be looking to hold onto his World Boxing Association title for a little while longer with his next fight on April 14th against former WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik (30-1, 10 KO’s) at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany. This is perhaps an easier option for the 33-year-old Sturm rather than take on his #2 WBA contender Andy Lee or #1 Hassan N. Nijam.

Zbik, 30, has decent power but he’s mostly known for having a good jab that he likes to throw frequently. Zbik is also a good mover and has good skills but is lacking in the power department. Besides the lack of power, Zbik is kind of mechanical and sometimes seems to be fighting by the numbers. He’s not really athletic looking. However, he is a very fine fighter if you can ignore his lack of power.

Sturm has done well against the mediocre opposition that the WBA has ranked in the top 15 for the past four years that Sturm has held the WBA title. He’s faced some very average fighters and he’s not gone out of his way to fight anyway one good when he’s had his optional defenses. It’s generally been Sturm fighting the bottom #15 guy each time he’s taking the optional defense. There’s no risk taking at all looking for bigger money fights when Sturm is taking the optional defense.

Sturm’s had it pretty easy when fighting his mandatory challenger because of the weak opposition that the WBA has faithfully ranked high for years one after another. Recently, Sturm finally fought a couple of a decent fighters in Matthew Macklin and Martin Murray and was held to a 12 round draw against Murray and defeated Macklin by a questionable 12 round split decision last year in June.

Zbik, #5 WBA, #5 WBO, lost his WBC title against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last year in June and Zbik hasn’t fought since them. It’s good that he’s being given a title shot without having to fight anyone after the Chavez Jr. loss.