By Allan Fox: Former WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm (37-4-2, 16 KO’s) suffered a 12 round unanimous decision loss to #1 IBF Sam Soliman (43-11, 17 KO’s) in Dusseldorf, Germany on Friday night in an IBF middleweight eliminator bout.

Sturm thinks he did enough to win the fight despite his less than impressive work rate after the 2nd round. Sturm was doing fine in the first two rounds, and was able to knock Soliman down once in the 2nd. But Sturm’s work rate dropped off in the remaining 10 rounds of the fight and he basically gave the fight away by being active enough.

The judges gave it to Soliman by the scores 116-111, 114-113 and 114-113. Those were definitely close scores, but Sturm gave the fight away by not fighting hard in the 11th and 12th rounds. Sturm looked totally gassed out, and he wasn’t throwing nearly enough punches to win those rounds. He just looked tired and frustrated.

It wasn’t the kind of opponent that Sturm is used to fighting. Soliman constantly moved around, and he never really stopped punching for any length of time. The shots that he was landing were often blocked, but he threw so many punches that a lot of them leaked through Sturm’s guard.

Sturm said to Sky Sports News “I landed the clearer punches but I can’t tell what’s in the judges’ heads.”

It’s definitely true that the 34-year-old Sturm landed the harder and cleaner shots, but what good is that if you’re getting out-hit 4 to 1. Soliman was constantly tagging Sturm with shots, going from head to body and back again. Those punches may not have been as hard as Sturm’s, but they were hard enough to swell and bruise his face.

Soliman moves on with this victory to a fight against IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale. Sturm will have to figure out what he wants to do with his career. He’s so used to being a world champion that this must be a new experience for him to be a non-title holder just looking to get fights.

Sturm might not get another chance at a world title until 2014, unless he takes up WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin’s invitation to fight him. Golovkin would still likely agree to fight Sturm despite his loss to Soliman, but it’s unclear if Sturm would be eager for that match-up. Sturm may not like the fight, but it’s probably his best chance at getting a world title shot in 2013 unless he wants to move up to super middleweight or down to 154.