By Sammy Rozenberg

In a fight that many are calling one of the biggest upsets of the last few years, former light heavyweight champion Henry Maske (31-1, 11 KOs) returned to the ring after a 10-year layoff to win a unanimous decision over the reigning WBA cruiserweight champion Virgil Hill (50-6, 23 KOs). The fight was a non-title affair at the Olympic Hall in Munich, Germany.

The fight was marred with criticism from Germany and several countries abroad. Most said that Maske was far too old to be competitive after being away from the ring for a decade. Maske's own countrymen, like retired former champion Sven Ottke, felt Maske had little chance of winning.

"This is not good for the sport. If things go normally, Henry doesn't have a ghost of a chance. He can't have any reflexes left," said Ottke.

Thousands of Germans were polled and only 26 percent of believed that Maske could pull off the upset win. Ten-years ago, Maske was one of the biggest stars in Germany, and was beginning to get recognition as one of the best light heavyweights in the world from experts outside of the country.

It wasn’t too long after the 1988 Middleweight Olympic Gold Medalist went pro, that many Germans were considering him the best fighter in the country and were beginning to bestow a legendary status upon him. Maske’s career is credited by many experts around the world as the reason why boxing is currently so big in Germany.

Then the unexpected happened. Maske, then the IBF light heavyweight champion, met WBA champion Virgil Hill in a unification showdown on Nov. 23, 1996, and lost a split-decision victory in front of his home crowd at the Olympic Hall in Munich, Germany. After the fight, Maske announced his retirement.

Maske was one of the few people in the world that knew he that he was still capable of avenging the only loss in his career.

Although both men were 43-years-old, Hill had fought 11 times during the ten-year retirement of Maske. There were several defeats in those 11 bouts, but they came at the hands of some of the best fighters during that time period, like Jean-Marc Mormeck, Roy Jones. Jr. and Dariusz Michalczewski. Hill was a heavy favorite to win the fight and even he was confident that the fight would be in the bag.

"I can only lose this fight through sabotage," Hill said.

In the early rounds of bout, neither of the two fighters threw a lot of punches. Maske appeared to be very off with the timing of his punches in the early going. After the fourth, Maske began to look like the stronger man as he got his jab working to set up punches.

"In the middle of the fight, I knew I had turned things around," Maske said. "I made him come to me, my punches began landing."

During the eight round, there was a major shift in the fight when an accidental clash of heads left Hill with a deep cut above his left eye. For reasons unknown, Maske was penalized with a point deduction for the head clash. The bleeding cut above Hill’s eye appeared to have impaired his vision in the late rounds as Maske began to land punches that were piling up the points on the judges scorecards.

The final scores were 117-110, 116-113 and 117-110 for Maske. At the sound of the final bell, 12,000 of Maske’s countrymen stood with applause for a performance that turned back the clock. German newspapers reported that more than 20 million Germans were expected to watch the live broadcast on TV. The fight was also available as a pay-per-view event in the United States.

What happens now is unknown. There were rumors prior to the event of Hill taking a dive in order to set up a lucrative trilogy bout. Hill dismissed those rumors rather quickly.

"That's stupid," Hill said. "I would damage my reputation and thereby reduce my earnings potential. Whoever says that doesn't know me."

Hill did earn over $1.33 million for the fight, without risking his title. A third meeting could be worth even more. There is a good chance that Hill may get stripped of his WBA cruiserweight title for taking the non-sanctioned fight with Maske. The cut on his left eye is sure to keep him away from the ring for a significant amount of time, which could also play a role in losing his title.

Now that Maske has been able to get the respect of the public as a fighter still possessing the ability of being competitive in the ring, many wonder if he will walk away from the sport or restart his career in full force.