By Mark Vester
The battle between Universum and WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm continues. Sturm filed an affidavit with the high court in Hamburg, Germany, stating that he refuses to to make a mandtory defense against unbeaten Gennady Golovkin if Universum is involved in the promotion of the event.
Sturm is fighting Universum in court over his promotional contract. He claims the contract ran out in August 2009. Universum claims the contract is still good until November of 2012. Universum has put in a counterclaim to prohibit Sturm from taking part in any interim-bout without their involvement or trying to negoiate with another promoter. Sturm said in an affidavit he would vacate the title if anyone forced his hand to fight Golovkin.
The court will rule on the contract in the next couple of months. Sturm could sit out for a better part of the year. A strange situation since Golovkin has recently been battling with Universum and claims his contract is invalid.
