By Mark Vester & Thomas Schlabe
WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm has been offered a lot of money to join Arena Box. Sturm is currently in a contract dispute with Universum and believes his contract expires before the end of the year. Ahmet Öner, CEO of Arena Box, has offered Sturm a package deal of $25 million to jump over. The deal is for six fights with a signing bonus of $3.5 million.
"This offer sounds pretty interesting and I'm gonna let my advisors check is out," Sturm told German tabloid BILD.
Öner believes Sturm will become an even bigger star with German rival Arthur Abraham moving up to super middleweight. Öner has a prmotional relationship with Top Rank, who hold the promotional rights to WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, and can use that relationship as an added bonus to get Sturm to sign a deal.
"Felix is worth every cent and he wants to continue boxing for at least the next 5 years. With Abraham going up to 168, he is going to be the dominating man at middleweight and also he is still a name in the United States because he fought [Oscar] De la Hoya," Öner said.
Universum is not going to lie down and allow the deal to happen. They believe their contract with Sturm does not expire before 2012. The sent out a warning to every television network/promotional company to stay away from Sturm or face a possible legal suit.
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