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Axel Schulz


BoztheMadman
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The best German heavyweight of the 90's, Axel Schulz was a very solid boxer with good skills but might have lacked the big punch necessary to succeed in the big league. Only 11 of his 26 victories came within the distance. However, he has also had his share of hard fights against world class opponents. He fought for the IBF world title three times, yet each time came up short and lost by a disputed decision. After getting stopped for the first time by Wladimir Klitschko, he retired and came back for one fight later, which he also lost by knockout.

 

Born 9 November 1968 in Baad Sarow, not far from Berlin, in what was then East Germany, Schulz started boxing in 1982, for the Frankfurt am Oder club "Vorwärts". Schulz competed for his country in the 1989 world amateur championships and won the bronze medal. He also won the silver in the European championships that same year. After the unification between East and West Germany, pro boxing was now allowed in his part of the country and he could turn pro, which he did in late 1990. He won his first 15 fights, scoring 8 knockouts, also winning the German title on points against Bernd Friedrich, before he was matched for the European title against the gigantic 6'7 Henry Akinwande from Britain. It was 19 December '92 in Germany and the 6'3 Schulz did well against the much taller opponent and in the end got a draw, after two of the judges scored it even. The third judge had it for Akinwande and thus, a rematch was mandated, also because a draw prevented a champion from being crowned. The fight was again in Schulz's ground, Charlottenburg, eastern Germany, on 1 May '93. Again the fight was rather close, but this time Akinwande prevailed by a unanimous decision to snatch that title away. On 7 August that year, Schulz had his first fight in USA and beat the journeyman Kimmuel Odum by UD10 in Atlantic City. He scored 2 knockouts and a decision before fighting a former WBA champion, James "Bonecrusher" Smith, 17 September '94 in Leverkusen, northwest Germany. Smith was 41 and therefore no match for the 25-yearold, who beat him by a clear UD in 10 rounds.

 

This victory gave him a crack at the IBF title which was held by George Foreman, who had taken it and the WBA title also from Michael Moorer. Foreman had vacated the WBA belt previously. The fight was in Las Vegas, MGM Grand, 22 April '95. Foreman was a 6to1 favorite, but Schulz turned out to be less of an underdog than expected, and outboxed Foreman for much of the fight, also swelling his eyebrow, only to lose by a majority decision in the end. After the scores were read, Schulz wandered the ring aimlessly for 20 minutes, in disbelief of what he had heard. He then stated to an interviewer:"I scored enough points. But I also had to fight against the referee and the judges." The corrupt American boxing establishment was indeed too much to overcome for an unknown 26-yearold German, unknown outside Europe. He also got only 350 K for the fight while Foreman got a staggering 10 million. After the fight, promoter Cedric Kushner asked the IBF for a rematch since the decision was controversial, but Foreman blatantly refused and was then rightly stripped of his title. A fight was then made for the vacant title, between Schulz and another unknown-Frans "White Rhino" Botha from South Africa. It was 9 December 1995 in Stuttgart, Germany, when Schulz found himself robbed again, but also this time the winner wouldn't get to enjoy the title either. After a strong start by Botha, Schulz took over in round 5 and for the rest of the fight, he kept hitting Botha with good, clean shots and even staggered him a couple times. Both fighters tired in the championship rounds, but Botha did nothing to even make the fight hard to score, constantly lunging in with his slow punches, most of them not landing. Yet, somehow, in the end he was proclaimed as the winner by a split decision, even by the scores 118-111 and 116-112! Only Henry Eugene Grant had Schulz winning by 115-113. German fans were enraged and threw coins and beer bottles into the ring. But, not long thereafter, Botha's blood samples were found to contain anabolic steroids and the fight result was changed to No Contest. Botha claimed he was innocent and that someone spiked his food before the fight.

 

The rematch was then ordered but in the meantime, Dino Duva pushed for his fighter Michael Moorer to get the chance against Botha, but after the Cedric Kushner and Sauerland Promotions, Schulz's promoters, threatened with a lawsuit, Botha was excluded and finally stripped and Schulz took on Moorer on 22 June '96 for the vacant title. Once again, Schulz had a slow start and Moorer won the first six rounds, but the German then had a surge and staged a comeback in the seventh. He remained strong in the following rounds, but it wasn't enough to give him the fight. He again lost by a split decision, but this time he was fine with it and said:"I think the decision was OK. Moorer's one of the best around." Hence, he lost once again, but didn't embarrass himself in any way and only proved he can tangle with the best. The fight was broadcast in 40 countries and was the biggest boxing event in Germany since Muhammad Ali fought Karl Mildenberger in 1966. A little later that year, Virgil Hill vs Henry Maske would turn out to be another huge event in Germany. Schulz went back on track by decisioning the faded former contender Jose Ribalta of Cuba in 10 rounds. On 30 August 1997 he scored one of his biggest victories by stopping the 6'6 Irishman Kevin McBride by TKO9 after dropping the huge McBride in the last round. It was his first knockout victory over a rated opponent. He then fought in an eliminator for the European title against the British Julius Francis, 28 February '98, and beat him by UD12, with the scores of 120-109, 118-112 and 118-111. Interestingly, in his next fight, he was down for the first time in his career against a minor opponent, Richard Mason, who had a record of 22-7-1. Schulz still outboxed him to win convincingly by UD10.

 

He had been inactive for 13 months when he took on the young up-and-comer Wladimir Klitschko next, for the vacant Euro title, 25 September '99 at the Kolnarena in Cologne. The almost 31-yearold Schulz was chanceless against the 23-yearold Ukrainian who outsized him clearly at 6'6 and 238 3/4 pounds, while Schulz weighed in at 219 1/4. Klitschko battered him for 8 rounds until the referee had seen enough and stopped it, with Schulz dangling helplessly on the ropes. Naturally, Schulz didn't protest the stoppage and said that he was hit hard the last couple rounds. He retired after that disappointing performance, but he came back 7 years later, fighting the American Brian Minto, who was a rather solid but not spectacular contender back then. It was 25 November 2006 at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany and Schulz was far from his old self. He was down in round 4 and in round 6 he turned his back to escape further punishment and thus lost by a TKO. A sad ending to a once so-promising boxer. His record is 26 wins, 11 knockouts as mentioned, 5 losses and 1 draw. He has worked as a commentator on TV since his first retirement and is married since 2006 with two daughters. Axel Schulz was naturally talented, but with his European style, he had a hard time breaking through on world stage and in USA. However, in the 3 biggest fights of his career, while still prime, Schulz was never beaten beyond all doubt, and in 2 of them he was robbed outright. This says something about his ability and talent. No other ethnically German heavyweight since Max Schmeling was so good. Schulz was also physically strong and had a very good chin, as attested when he took some big shots against Foreman and kept coming.

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Re: Axel Schulz

 

--- Schultz a solid fighter, but keep in mind robbery and ducking just endemic catch all terms watered down from overuse.

 

And 99% of IBF duties is awarding belts when not stripping them. Foreman didn't need a belt, instead getting the proverbial undefeated Man who beat The Man. When I watched the Axel fight, he really couldn't do much with the size, strength, and persistence of Foreman who was visibly slowing down as he neared 50. Maybe worth a draw at best. Big George went out on top making the big young stud Briggs rope burn hisself fleeing Foreman. I didn't see that fight in the moment, but come Monday AM all the young studs at work were grousing over Foreman being robbed, dozens of them. Never seen that level of disgust over a fight before.

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Re: Axel Schulz

 

--- Schultz a solid fighter, but keep in mind robbery and ducking just endemic catch all terms watered down from overuse.

 

And 99% of IBF duties is awarding belts when not stripping them. Foreman didn't need a belt, instead getting the proverbial undefeated Man who beat The Man. When I watched the Axel fight, he really couldn't do much with the size, strength, and persistence of Foreman who was visibly slowing down as he neared 50. Maybe worth a draw at best. Big George went out on top making the big young stud Briggs rope burn hisself fleeing Foreman. I didn't see that fight in the moment, but come Monday AM all the young studs at work were grousing over Foreman being robbed, dozens of them. Never seen that level of disgust over a fight before.

Foreman's popularity made people biased. That's what annoyed me. I actually was enjoying watching Holyfield kick his ass because everybody was so pro-Foreman before that fight. He did well, but he lost and clearly. Holyfield always had a poor defense and against somebody like Holmes, he'd land far less.

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Re: Axel Schulz

 

--- Apples and oranges and pears and bears Boz.

 

It was Field hanging on for dear life, not George. Field lost his mojo post George much like Ali did. Anyway, Axel did ok for hisself back in the day. Hope all is well for him. It's all good!

BULL-SHIT! He so didn't. He went on to beat Bowe, Mercer and Tyson! As I said, he had no defense, so he took those wide swinging shots that guys like Holmes and Mercer or even Bowe wouldn't.

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Re: Axel Schulz

 

--- Now Boz, it don't have to be a negative that Evan consistently fought the stiffest comp thru the 90s, but he suffered magnificently with a post George record- 28 yrs old to start an 18-10-2, 7 KO record with two KO losses. His title record is 8-7-2, a significant cause and effect with George as the progenitor

of the decline. He was 25-0 coming into George.

 

Just sayin' the obvious Boz...------

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Re: Axel Schulz

 

--- Now Boz, it don't have to be a negative that Evan consistently fought the stiffest comp thru the 90s, but he suffered magnificently with a post George record- 28 yrs old to start an 18-10-2, 7 KO record with two KO losses. His title record is 8-7-2, a significant cause and effect with George as the progenitor

of the decline. He was 25-0 coming into George.

 

Just sayin' the obvious Boz...------

No, you ain't. :ranger: It was because all his defenses were difficult, he was down against Cooper and cut against Holmes and took some leather there as well. And then the first Bowe fight-the amount of punishment he took there, the Foreman fight can't even begin to compare. Plus, he had that heart condition. George-fight was just the beginning of it. He had had a rather easy time until then, at heavyweight. And he hadn't yet grown into a proper heavy. Capisce? :cool:

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