Oner: Golovkin, Pirog and Martinez Would Defeat Sturm

By Ruslan Chikov

Promoter Ahmet Oner of Arena Box Promotions had a short-lived business relationship with Felix Sturm, the WBA's "super champion" at 160-pounds. Sturm (36-2-2, 15KOs) will return on April 13th in Germany and the two rumored opponents are IBF champion Daniel Geale or WBO king Dmitry Pirog. Oner has his doubts about Sturm facing one of the champions at his weight. He thinks Sturm, through his television deal with Sat1, is going to continue making money with second-tier opponent.

"I worked with Sturm. I made him a WBA super championom. He avoided a fight with Gennady Golovkin. Sturm knew that he had no chance with Golovkin. But also against other champions - Dmitry Pirog or Sergio Martinez - Sturm has no chance. So for his last fight he bought [a second tier opponent] and he failed to win convincingly. The acquisition of rights to stage the clash between [Sebastian] Zbik and [Grzegorz] Proksa - was definitely a smart move, but he can't force the fighters to perform on his events," Oner told Figo Sport.