MANNHEIM, Germany – German fight promoter Florian Winter believes boxing could be reborn here in the coming years.
Winter said a sold-out crowd of 13,000 is expected on Friday at the SAP-Arena in Mannheim to watch the bill headlined by Irishman Paddy Donovan fighting Ukraine’s Karen Chukhadzhian in an IBF welterweight title eliminator.
It also features a number of German heavyweight prospects that Winter has high hopes for, having secured “home” advantage for his fighter against Matchroom’s Donovan.
“It’s really important,” he said of getting the fight in Germany. “Because for sure it’s not Ukraine, it’s Germany, but we have a lot of Ukrainians here and we have a good relationship to [Chukhadzhian’s] management, and I think it’s a big, big point. It’s always at home where you fight your best fights normally.”
It also signals the continued renaissance of boxing in Germany.
“It’s a big, big step for German boxing because it’s not easy,” Winter said of his efforts to draw big crowds. “The only person who currently does that is [heavyweight contender] Agit Kabayel, but we did it with fighters growing up [like Henry Maske and Axel Schulz].”
He also believes that he might be bringing through “a golden generation of heavyweights”, with Peter Kadiru, 22-1 and who won and lost as an amateur against Daniel Dubois, Emanuel Odiase, 10-0 and who trains with Anthony Joshua, Nelvie Tiafack, 3-0, and the 6ft 9ins Viktor Jurk, who is 13-0.
Winter knows, however, that the fight fans will only come if there is jeopardy in the bouts. He doesn’t want to match his fighters easily, and he said that that is what has caused some of the stagnation in the German boxing market.
“They always want to go the safe way,” the 38-year-old promoter said.
“It’s really old school. They don’t want to risk, but without risk you cannot earn anything, so you need to have good fights. We have really good German prospects.”
He believes that he could have the next dominant era of heavyweights once the British brigade of Dubois, Joshua, Tyson Fury and Fabio Wardley make their exits – although he knows that the landscape includes young stars like Moses Itauma, too.
“It will be a big challenge, UK versus Germany, that’s what we want,” he said. “I’m pretty sure the German market is a sleeping giant. It’s a huge, huge market. We dominated the boxing world for decades, but then I think the problem in Germany was we just formed single icons like the Klitschkos. In Germany, you always talk about going to a boxing fight.
“We want the people to go to a boxing event. We want a big card. For sure, there’s a main event, but we also want to have good co-main events and prelims. I think we need to create also a platform. That’s what we do with the Ringside Zone [my promotional company], and make the platform a star, so that when one boxer leaves, the platform will stay, like the UFC, for example, in the States.”
The First Channel will broadcast in Germany. Winter says that when German boxing went behind the paywalls its audience fell away. With streaming platforms a key part of culture and boxing, he believes that the time is right for its return to the mainstream.
“There are a lot of reasons [for the decline], but I think the main reason is that pay-per-view took over,” he explained. “So, in 2017, you have to pay for sports, and Germany wasn’t approved [ready] for it. We were approved [ready] for free TV, so we don’t want to pay for sports events. But that’s why it’s a good momentum now, because streaming takes over now, and every German household has DAZN, Netflix, Amazon, so we can compete now. This was the main reason, to be honest.”
Winter recognises that Friday’s fight in Mannheim, billed as a Night of Heavyweights, has a 50-50 fight when Donovan and Chukhadzhian meet.
“He’s a really hard worker,” Winter said of Chukhadzhian.
“He has so much discipline, and he’s also a really nice human being. He’s all that you need to be a champion, and I think it’s his biggest chance now to come back, and I’m pretty sure that Mannheim could be the place.”
The comeback Winter refers to is the one Chukhadzhian has been on since his second defeat by the gifted Philadelphian Jaron “Boots” Ennis, whom Kiev’s Chukhadzhian twice travelled to the American east coast to box.
“Maybe it wasn't the right place also,” Winter added, talking of the importance of home advantage.
“I don’t know. Maybe it would be another fight in Germany.
“Paddy is a great fighter, and he has also a great team behind him. [Trainer] Andy Lee is a legend, and I have been in Ireland with Nelvie Tiafack when he sparred [Lee’s heavyweight] Joseph Parker, and they know what they are doing. It’s 50-50, and Paddy is also a great fighter, great guy, so it’s a great match-up. Yeah, I’m a little nervous, but I’m always a little nervous, also because of the other fights [on the bill].”
