Sturm vs Szili on March 26 in Dortmund, Germany

By Boxing News - 03/24/2022 - Comments

Germany’s Only Five-Time World Champion Felix Sturm has Signed a Promotional Agreement with Ludger Inholte’s Newly Founded LIB Boxpromotion and Returns to the Ring on March 26, 2022 in an IBO World Super Middleweight Title Eliminator Against István Szili at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany, to Position Himself to Challenge for an Unprecedented Sixth World Title

For Felix Sturm, the proverb “three time’s a charm“ does not hold true. The former middleweight and super middleweight champion has already archived more than any other German boxer, as he is the only five-time world champion the country – despite it’s rich history in the sport of boxing – has ever produced. At the age of 42 and with two young children at home, Sturm could certainly enjoy a quiet life away from the spotlight and the rigorous training regime a professional fighter has to endure to be successful.

But Felix Sturm is called “The Fighter“ for a reason: He never shies away from a challenge.

On March 26, 2022, Sturm, who is two fights into a comeback after a four-year layoff from boxing, will enter the ring for the 52nd time as a professional prizefighter – and the stakes could not be higher: In an IBO World super middleweight title eliminator, he will face current IBO Intercontinental titleholder István Szili at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany. If victorious against Szili, Sturm is tentatively scheduled to fight for the IBO championship in a challenge for an unprecedented sixth world title in the second half of 2022 at the 60.000-seat Veltins-Arena, home of German football club FC Schalke 04.

“I was born to fight and I will do everything in my power to become world champion again“, Sturm said. “March 26 will be the first step towards that goal. I have a great team

in my corner with my trainer and friend Maurice Weber and my new promoter, LIB Boxpromotion. I can promise all my fans that big things are still to come in my career.“

The event on March 26 will mark the first collaboration between the five-time champion and the newly founded LIB Boxpromotion. Real estate mogul Ludger Inholte, a lifelong boxing fan himself and the owner and founder of LIB Boxpromotion, plans to reintroduce Germany as one of the leading powers in the world of boxing, alongside the United States and Great Britain, and to bring big time boxing back to the center stage of Germany’s sports culture. In his first step to make that goal a reality, he signed Sturm to an exclusive promotional contract with the ultimate target to help “The Fighter“ win a sixth world championship. But his involvement in the sport does not stop there: With the expertise and keen eye for talent of Sturm, Inholte intends to develop young and talented fighters to eventually establish them at the very top of the sweet science.

Maurice Weber: “Felix is Ready, Hanna is Ready – Saturday Night Can’t Come Soon Enough!”

Maurice Weber, the former world light middleweight title challenger and current head- trainer of five-time world champion Felix Sturm, was full of confidence of his fighters’ chances at today’s final press conference before the big inaugural LIB-Boxpromotion event on Saturday night at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany. In the main event of the evening, Sturm will face the aggressive István Szili over twelve scheduled rounds in a final IBO World super middleweight title eliminator – and while Weber recognizes that Szili looks to be in the shape of his life, he is not at all concerned by the confidence of the fighter in the opposite corner: “István looks lean, he looks fit, he looks ready to go“, Weber said. “But that doesn’t matter to us, in fact, we are happy that he will step into the ring in the best possible shape. Whatever he brings on Saturday night, Felix will be ready for it. Whatever he does, Felix will have an answer. Felix will win, and he will win dominantly. The fans are in for a real treat.“

Weber added that Sturm is in as good a form as he has been in years, stating that they left no stone unturned during training camp to get ready for the challenge to come on Saturday night. “This has been our third camp together and it has been, by far, the best one yet“, Weber said. “There was no sickness, no problems, nothing. We trained for twelve hard weeks, Felix sparred 78 rounds against six different sparring partners, all tailored to the style of István Szili. He doesn’t look 43, he looks and fights like he’s 29 years of age. With all due respect, I don’t think we will go the full twelve rounds on Saturday night, I think Felix knocks him out.“

Weber, called “Coach Mo“ by his fighters, will also be in the corner of rising female star Hanna Hansen, who will battle Jeanmary Martinez Paulino for the vacant IBO Intercontinental junior middleweight title in just her fourth professional fight on the undercard at the Westfalenhalle. “Hanna had a great camp as well. She shook off some ring rust two weeks ago, when she fought in Darmstadt. That was important, but now she’s as ready as they come. Once again, with all due respect, but I truly believe that she will knock her opponent out and bring that intercontinental title back home in style.“

Aside from Sturm and Hansen, Weber and his assistant coach Salih Yildirim will be in the corner of five highly talented young fighters who will try to take the next step in their careers on the undercard in Dortmund: middleweight Anas El-Abid, super lightweight Ilias Kallouch, light middleweights Meris Idrizi and Ajdin Reiz and welterweight Malik Aksakal. “All of them have the talent to develop into special fighters“, Weber said. “This is the biggest stage for them yet but there was absolutely no problem in training at all. It all went smooth, it all went fine. I think we will have a lot to celebrate once the final bell rings on Saturday night.“

In closing, Weber said: ”All my fighters are ready for Saturday night. Felix is ready, Hanna is ready. I cannot wait for the fights, Saturday night can’t come soon enough.“

LIB Boxpromotion is sponsored by L-I-P Ludger Inholte Projektentwicklung, one of Germany’s leading real estate development firms. Tickets for Sturm vs. Szili on March 26, 2022 at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany, are on sale at www.L-I-B.de and via the ticket hotline +49-2842-9328800.