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Five fighters who put German boxing on the map
All eyes are on Germany this weekend as big-time boxing returns to the country.
Agit Kabayel makes his homecoming when he defends his WBC interim heavyweight title at Oberhausen's Rudolf Weber Arena on Saturday, live on DAZN.
A victory would bring the 33-year-old closer to a world title shot and the potential of the boxing glory days returning to Germany.
The country was once a powerhouse of the sport and DAZN News looks back at five fighters who put German boxing on the map.
Max Schmeling
A sporting hero in his native country, Schmeling remains the only heavyweight champion from Germany.
Schmeling won the vacant title in 1930 at Yankee Stadium when Jack Sharkey’s low blow in the fourth round was deemed illegal and the latter was disqualified.
Two years later at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Sharkey got his revenge via a controversial split decision to end the title reign of Schmeling.
He went on to have two infamous fights with American Joe Louis in 1936 and 1938, winning one apiece, and both clashes became worldwide cultural events.
Sven Ottke
A Berlin native, Ottke was the super middleweight champion of the world and retired with an unblemished 34-0 record in 2004.
‘The Phantom’ won the IBF title with a split decision victory over Charles Brewer in Duesseldorf in 1998 and went on to successfully defend it 21 times, a record for the division which he shares with Joe Calzaghe.
Ottke only once boxed outside of his native land and flew the flag high for German boxing in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Arthur Abraham
Despite being from Armenia, Abraham moved to Germany as a 15-year-old and made the country his boxing home after his professional debut in Nurburg in 2003.
Tough as teak and known for his heavy hands, ‘King Arthur’ landed the IBF middleweight crown by stopping Kingsley Ikeke in the fifth round of their 2006 contest in Leipzig and went on to defend the belt ten times.
Abraham then stepped up to super middleweight and became a two-weight world champion with two separate WBO reigns at 168lbs between 2012 and 2016.
He faced the best in his weight classes in a tremendous career and ended with a record of 47-6 (30 KOs).
Vitali Klitschko
The Ukrainian-born heavyweight began his career in Germany and it became his adopted boxing home for the rest of his career.
‘Dr. Ironfist’ lived up to his name with forty-one of his forty-five wins coming inside the distance and he had three separate reigns as champion of the world.
He picked up the WBO title with a second-round knockout of Herbie Hide in 1999 before losing it to Chris Byrd the following year, although he was well ahead on the scorecards when forced to retire after nine rounds due to a shoulder injury.
He claimed the WBC belt by stopping Corrie Sanders in 2004 and defended it once before retiring later that year. Klitchsko then returned to collect the same belt in 2008 and closed out his career with a superb run of nine defences up to 2012.
He is perhaps best known for his bloody war with Lennox Lewis in 2003, when Klitschko was in front on all three scorecards when he was deemed unable to continue due to a badly cut eye.
Wladimir Klitschko
Like his older brother, Wladimir also fought out of Germany and enjoyed two separate spells as heavyweight champion of the world.
The Olympic gold medalist had the WBO belt between 2000 and 2002 before being knocked out in two rounds by Corrie Sanders in 2003.
However, he bounced back stronger and held multiple world titles in a dominant reign between 2005 and 2015, which included nineteen consecutive championship victories, before losing to Tyson Fury.
After well over a year out of the ring, he returned to face Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium in 2017 but was stopped in the eleventh round in a modern-day heavyweight classic.
Along with Vitali, he ruled the heavyweight division for over a decade and did all of his best work in Germany.
Watch Kabayel vs. Knyba with a DAZN subscription
January starts with a heavyweight bang as Agit Kabayel takes the next steps towards a world title shot as he face Damian Knyba this Saturday, January 10, exclusively on DAZN Watch with a subscription, monthly and annual options available.
