Abraham Gets Past Marquez, Wants Sturm Next

In a fight we were unable to cover here at BoxingWatchers.com, Arthur Abraham successfully defended his IBF middleweight title Saturday with a sixth-round TKO of Raul Marquez at the Jako Arena in Bamberg, Germany. The AP report stated that Marquez's corner called off the fight after their fighter got hit with two solid rights to the eye in the sixth round.

With WBC and WBO middleweight king Kelly Pavlik headed back to 160 pounds following his loss to Bernard Hopkins, speculation has increased that he and Abraham could be back on track to face each other in 2009. But King Arthur apparently has the lone remaining middleweight titleholder on his mind: WBA champ (and personal favorite of Spartan117's dad) Felix Sturm.

"I say here in front of 10,000 I am ready to box him," Abraham told the AP. "I can't say anything else."

That should delight fans in Germany. Sturm is a native son and Abraham also calls the country home. Pavlik isn't available in early 2009 anyway, as he appears set to face mandatory challenger Marco Antonio Rubio in February.

Assuming Abraham and Pavlik both get by their next opponents, that could set up a unification bout for all the middleweight gold in the second half of 2009. The undefeated Abraham has fought just once outside of Europe, but he has stopped his last six foes and made eight successful title defenses since he won the IBF belt by knocking out Kingsley Ikeke in December 2005.