SEBASTIAN ZBIK COULD strike a knockout blow against Andy Lee — by denying the Limerick southpaw his dream of a world title shot against Felix Sturm in April.
Zbik, a former world middleweight champion, has emerged as a serious contender to face Sturm when he defends his WBA “Super” middleweight belt on 13 April, German boxing website FigoSport reports.
The news will come as a major disappointment to Lee’s camp, who opened negotiations with Sturm after pulling their man from the Sergio Martinez-Matthew Macklin undercard on 17 March in New York.
Zbik was scheduled to fight EBU middleweight champion Grzegorz Proksa on 2 March, but the German is now expected to relinquish his position as mandatory challenger in order to fight for Sturm’s much bigger prize.
“We are planning something differently for Sebastian,” a spokesperson for Universum promotions told BoxingScene.com. “Definitely a world championship but that is all I can say at the moment”.
If Zbik and Sturm agree terms, Lee faces being left out in the cold. Promoter Lou DiBella promised earlier this year that the 27-year-old would get a title shot in 2012, and IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale is already being mooted as a possible opponent if talks with Sturm fall through.
“There’s been a lot of talk, but I don’t know,” Lee said when asked by eastsideboxing.com’s On The Ropes about the possibility of fighting Sturm.
If the offer was right I would definitely be willing to go over there… I don’t see much danger in Sturm. He has a good style. He’s a very effective boxer, but I believe I can knock Sturm out.
