Felix Sturm, the WBA Middleweight Super Champion, will be making the 12th defence of his title on Friday April 13when he takes on former WBC champion Sebastian Zbik at the Lanxess Arena in the city of Cologne, Germany. Sturm, a three-time world champion, said he had a great training camp, is in great shape, and his weight is good. He said he’ll teach Zbik to respect him by utilizing his power and speed.
The 33-year-old champion from has struggled a little in his last two fights, which were a close split decision win over Britain’s Matthew Macklin and a controversial 12-round draw with Martin Murray. However, he’ll enter the ring with a fine record of 36-2-2 with 15 KOS, which shows he’s not the hardest puncher in the world.
The 30-year-old Zbik isn’t really a hard hitter either as his record of 30-1, with 10 KO’s indicates and feels the timing is perfect to upset the champion due to his struggles in his past two fights. Zbik said Sturm’s weaknesses were exposed in those two fights and he’s ready to take advantage of them. But, it looks like Zbik’s lack of power means he’s going to have to outbox the champion to beat him.
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Zbik’s last fight was a 12-round majority decision loss to WBC champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last June and he gave a good account of himself, especially during the first half of the fight. However, Chavez managed to wear him down due to his superior size and constant pressure. That’s probably because Chavez weighed about 180 lbs. on fight night though after making the weigh in at 160 lbs.
Zbik’s best chance at winning the fight is to make sure he initiates the action. He’ll have to work hard on the inside and try to nail him with some effective uppercuts. Sturm fights well from the outside and has a very good jab, which he’ll need to use to keep the challenger off of him. Zbik doesn’t appear to have the style to beat Sturm though nor the power, so it’s going to be a tough task to try and walk out of the ring as the new champion.
Sturm vs Zbik Prediction
Both of these fighters hail from Germany and they’re used to European opposition. They’ve fought the majority of their fights on the continent and are accustomed to the stand-up style of most European boxers. They’re also both just under six feet tall so nobody’s going to have a size advantage. This could be an exciting bout even though they’re both considered to be light hitters. Zbik should have his moments, but look for Sturm to retain his title by a relatively close unanimous decision.
Sturm vs Zbik Betting Odds
Sportsbook 5dimes.com has the current odds of a Sturm victory at -175 with a Zbik win at +155. The odds of the fight going over 9.5 rounds are -600 with the odds of it ending before 9.5 rounds at +450. Visit 5Dimes.com now to bet on this fight.
Felix Sturm betting • Sebastian Zbik betting