By Igor Lazorin, tass
Roland Bebak, manager of Felix Sturm, has confirmed that his fighter has decided to vacate his World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight title. Due to an lingering elbow injury, Bebak says the boxer is unable to defend his title.
As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, Sturm, who is suspected of doping, will finally open his B-sample on October 12 at the Institute of Biochemistry of Sports in Cologne. This was stated in a letter to the court in Cologne.
Sturm tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol after his split decision victory over Fedor Chudinov on February 20 in Oberhausen, Germany.
"Yes, (he vacated the title), because he could not defend the title due to an elbow injury," said Bebak. "But right now he is going to see if the drug is found in his B-sample. In any event, the sample will be opened and our representative will be present at the proceedings."
If the outcome of Sturm's B-sample confirms the findings in his A-sample, the German fighter will be in a lot of trouble. German prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation against Sturm. Cologne prosecutor Daniel Vollmert says Sturm is suspected of violating Germany's new anti-doping law. The 37-year-old boxer faces three years in prison if convicted.
A few months ago Sturm (40-5-3, 18KOs) left Germany and moved to Bosnia, according to Bebak. Sturm was born Germany to Bosnian parents under the real name Adnan Catic. He later changed his name to Felix Sturm.
Sturm has no plans to end his career. He plans to hold at least two fights in 2017.
Sturm has had a rocky career in recent years. After a two round stoppage over Darren Barker to capture the IBF middleweight title in 2013, he was upset in his first defense when he dropped a twelve round decision to Sam Soliman in May of 2014. That prompted a move to super middleweight late that year, and he went to a draw with Robert Stieglitz.
Last May, he fought Chudinov for the vacant WBA 168-pound title and suffered an twelve round split decision loss. There was no controversy over the outcome and even Sturm admitted defeat, but for some reason an immediate rematch was ordered by the sanctioning body - and that led to the February bout which Sturm won. Even stranger, was the fact that his February fight was his first win since the December 2013 Barker bout.