Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow - European light-heavyweights by Eric Armit Apr 14th 2008

In the latest part of his fascinating series, Eric Armit looks at the stars of yesterday, today and (perhaps) tomorrow. This issue - European light-heavyweights. Yesterday Gustav “Bubi” Schulz Back in the late 1940's there was not much to be cheerful about in Europe. The continent was still recovering from the ravages of war, Germany was paying the price of losing, and was struggling to return to some form of normality. Sport was one of the first activities to provide some relief and the citizens of Berlin had found a hero in young southpaw Gustav Scholz. Born in the city in April 1930, “Bubi” launched his professional career in October 1948 as a welterweight and was almost single-handedly responsible for reviving the sport in Germany. In May 1951 he won the German welterweight title and in September 1952 travelled to Copenhagen and held the future Danish star Chris Christensen to a draw. In 1953 he met Christensen again, this time in Berlin, and the visitor stayed in his corner at the end of the ninth round. In March 1954 he appeared at the Madison Square Gardens in New York and beat world rated middleweight Al Andrews. Still unbeaten it looked as though Bubi could be challenging for a world title soon. However he was derailed late in 1955 and suddenly it seemed as though his career could be over. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was seriously ill. He fought and won his battle against TB and returned to the ring in March 1957. Just three months later won the German middleweight title by kayoing Peter Mueller in three rounds. Going into the fight Mueller had had 112 fights and lost only 14. In March 1958, in Paris, and almost ten years after he turned pro, Bubi suffered his first defeat as the great French middleweight Charles Humez scored two knockdowns on the way to a points victory. To show the quality and experience in the ring that night Bubi was unbeaten with 64 wins and 4 draws before the fight and the Frenchman's record was 94-6-1 (one of those losses being to Randy Turpin for the “world“ title). 169 fights and only one loss between them. Just seven months later, in Berlin, a battered and bleeding Humez was stopped in the twelfth round as Bubi added the European middleweight title to his collection. He kept busy with three defences of his European title and wins over good opposition such as Mike Holt, Rocco Mazzola, John McCormack, Paul Roux and Marcel Diouf. A win in April 1962 over former world title challenger Jesse Bowdry finally landed Bubi a shot at the world light-heavyweight champion Harold Johnson. Their June 1962 bout drew 35,000 fans to the Berlin Olympic Stadium but the greatly underrated champion put up a textbook display to take the verdict on scores of 73-70, 72-70 and 72-64 (the 5 points scoring system was used). With only one champion in those days another title shot was unlikely, and after over 90 fights, Bubi was nearing the end. However, in his last two fight he outpointed Chick Calderwood in November 1963 and in April 1964 beat the tough Italian Giulio Rinaldi on a ninth round disqualification to win the European light-heavyweight title. That was it. After almost 14 years and 96 fights Bubi put away his gloves. Of those 96 fights Bubi lost only two and fought six draws whilst growing from welterweight to light-heavyweight. During those early years he really was boxing in Germany. An intelligent, elegant boxer with a good punch ,outside the ring he also made news for his “lively” life style, and was a national idol. After he retired his image was shattered when in 1985 he shot his wife when drunk and went to jail for a short sentence. The drama of his life was captured in a film “The Bubi Schulz” story and also in books. He finally died in August 2000. Career: 96 fights, won 88 (46 by stoppage or KO), lost 2, drew 6. Today Zsolt Erdei Zsolt Erdei, nicknamed “Firebird” is the unbeaten WBO light-heavyweight champion and was born in Budapest, Hungary on May 31, 1974. He was inspired to take up boxing by the great Laszlo Papp and Muhammad Ali. Started boxing in 1985 at the Vasas club and was Hungarian schoolboy and junior champion. He won a gold medal at 71kilos in the 1992 European Junior Championships in Edinburgh but lost to Russian Sergey Ismailov in the first round of the World Junior Championships the same year. He won the first of his six Hungarian senior titles in 1993 and repeated in 1994. He competed in the 1995 World Championships and had a big year in 1996 as he won his first major medal as a senior, a silver at 75kilos in the European Championships, losing to Sven Ottke in the final. However, in the Olympics in Atlanta he went out in the early stages to the silver medallist from Turkey losing by one point. The 1997 World Championships were held in his home city of Budapest and Zsolt came through with the gold medal, beating Cuban Ariel Hernandez in the final. He confirmed his status as the best in Europe at the European Championships in Minsk in 1998 taking the gold medal by beating Brian Magee, but then failed to retain his World title in 1999 in Houston, losing, again by a single point, to Vyacheslav Burba. He repeated his gold medal feat in the 2000 European Championships and went to the Sydney Olympics full of hope. In the end he fell just a bit short losing to Russian Gairbek Gaidarbekov in the semi-finals and having to settle for a bronze medal. He turned pro in December 2000 with Klaus-Peter Kohl's Universum after compiling a 212-20 amateur record. He had an early shock having to climb off the floor against Oleksander Garashchenko in the first round of their June 2001 fight, but recovered to win comfortably on points. He won his first title, the WBO Inter Continental light-heavyweight title, in his 13th fight in October 2002 by kayoing South African champion Jim Murray in five rounds. He made four successful defences, although having to climb off the floor again to stop Brazilian Jose Hilton Dos Santos in March 2003 (and also stopping Paraguayan Juan Carlos Gimenez, a victim of Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn and Joe Calzaghe). In January 2004 he won the WBO title with a wide points verdict over Julio Cesar Gonzalez, who had snapped the 48 bout unbeaten streak of Dariusz Michalczewski to win the title. His first defence against Argentinian Hugo Garay in April 2004 was a close run thing as it ended on a wafer thin majority decision but since then he has made eight other defences . The closest of these was in October 2005 when he was badly hurt in the middle rounds but, with the result in doubt, he rallied to halt French challenger Mehdi Sahnonune in the last round. Unbeaten with 28 wins he faces his ninth challenger later this month in American DeAndre Abron. Zsolt is a stocky 5'10” tall and an excellent boxer, fast and accurate with his punching, who wears his opponents down gradually, all of his title defences having gone eight rounds or more. At 33, he is getting close to the veteran stage, but with his style and home advantage is tough to beat. Record: 28 fight, 28 wins (17 by stoppage or kayo). Tomorrow Vyacheslav Uzelkov The crop is not great, but I go for the 29-year-old Ukrainian Vyacheslav Uzelkov. He is another product of the old Eastern European boxing ranks. He was born on April 8, 1979 in Vinnytsja, Ukraine. His first major title as an amateur is recorded as being a gold medal in the 1997 European Junior Championships in Birmingham at 81kilos where he beat Germany‘s Steffen Kretschmann, (in the 1996 European Cadet Championships at the same weight Kretschmann beat a Uzelkov, but with a different christian name, which seems a big coincidence). From there he went on to win a silver medal in the 1998 World Cup and a bronze medal in the 1999 World Military Championships, all at 81kilos. In 2001 he was up at heavyweight, 91kilos, where he lost to David Haye in the semi-final of the World Championships and competed in the Goodwill Games. In 2002 he took a silver at the European Championships and in 2003 competed again in the World Championships where he beat Ireland's Alan Reynolds but left without a medal. He turned pro in October 2004 and has run up 18 wins without either being too strenuously tested or extended. Eleven of those wins have come inside the distance and he has collected the EBU External Non-EU light-heavyweight title and the WBA Intercontinental title. Solid, strong and a good technician he needs to get better opposition if he is to follow in the footsteps of Erdei. Record: 18 fights, 18 wins (11 by stoppage or kayo).

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