For a good number of years now Sauerland Promotions have, almost single-handedly, been keeping boxing alive and well on the continent of Europe. Along with the two heavyweights of British boxing, Matchroom Sport and Frank Warren Promotions, they are the stalwarts of European boxing.
The German family triumvirate of patriarch Wilfred and his two sons, Kalle and Nisse, work tirelessly to provide their outstanding quality monthly shows in Germany. In the past couple of years they have also created a sideline in Scandinavia, which they call Nordic Fight Night and which showcases the best professional fighters from Denmark, Sweden and Norway in regular shows, almost exclusively held in Denmark. This arm of the team is run by Nisse.
On closer inspection though, things may be becoming harder for the German team. The Sauerlands have had great fighters to form their shows around, names like Arthur Abraham, Marco Huck, Yoan Pablo Hernandez, Juergen Braehmer and Alexander Povetkin. They generally run a dozen or so shows a year throughout Germany, always headlined by one of the above-mentioned stars and featuring their large and competent stable of fighters on the undercards.
The problem is that their main stars are now ageing and the prospects coming through are being knocked off one by one. These must be worrying developments for the company. The last band of Sauerland Youth featured the likes of Dominik Britsch, Dustin Dirks, Edmund Gerber and Robert Woge but virtually all of these are already on the scrapheap.
Britsch was the first to go, fighting to a disputed draw with Spaniard Roberto Santos in February 2012. He then fought a rematch with the same opponent but, on this occasion, was not up to the job, being stopped in the eighth round. Britsch is now on the comeback trail but was held to a majority decision in his last fight by a fighter with a 5-2 record. He has now been sent to Coventry (well, Rome actually), to fight an Italian for an IBF-Inter title, a sure sign that his career, at least with the Sauerlands, is as good as over.
The next one to go down was light-heavyweight Dustin Dirks, who must be one of the poorest fighters ever to represent the Sauerlands. He was embarrassingly bad in suffering a stoppage defeat against Oleksandr Cherviak and, in his next fight in August 2013, when a hometown decision gifted him a draw against Czech Tomas Adamek. Soon afterwards Dirks announced his retirement. However, he has since popped up again and is due to fight on another promoter’s card in Germany in April.
Heavyweight Gerber was shown up, firstly by Michael Sprott who outpointed him and then by African journeyman Gbenga Oloukun, in March 2013, when he looked lucky to get the close verdict. He was then thrown in by his paymasters to a European title fight with Dereck Chisora, in a hit or bust effort, and was duly stopped in five rounds by the far superior British heavyweight. Gerber promptly announced his retirement too.
As for Woge, he fought tooth and nail struggles with Hakim Zoulikha and Dariusz Sek, just prevailing in both, before his luck ran out in October 2013 and he was well beaten by Ukrainian import Anatoliy Dudchenko. The Sauerlands will probably continue with Woge but his wide open style means that he will be lucky to progress even as far as European title level. Nothing from this batch then.
To top it all, their newly-signed unbeaten Russian heavyweight Denis Boytsov suffered a shocking, disastrous defeat to unheralded Australian Alex Leapai in November 2013, losing his top ranking with the WBO and a guaranteed shot at champion Wladimir Klitschko. The nightmare did not end there as on the same show, the team’s solid European-level light-heavyweight Eduard Gutknecht was stopped with a nasty eye injury by Russian Dmitry Sukhotsky. That night just about rounded off an annus horribilis for the Sauerlands.
Sad to say that the litany of misfortune has continued into 2014 with the first defeat of the team’s Austrian middleweight, Marcos Nader. Nader had managed to compile an 18-0-1 record before being soundly outpointed by Italian import Emanuele Blandamura in January. As with Woge, the team will probably continue with Nader, who is only 23 years old, but the future does not look promising for him.
To that future, and the class of 2014 includes former world amateur champion Jack Culcay, ex-Olympian Enrico Koelling and Tyron Zeuge who fill out the new “hopes and prospects” section of the Sauerland line-up. On signing “Golden Jack” the German team would have hoped that they had at last unearthed a successor to ‘King’ Arthur Abraham and Marco ‘Cap’n’ Huck, but those dreams must already be evaporating. Culcay was not setting the world on fire, but he was progressing steadily until he came across Argentine Guido Pitto in April 2013 and suffered a shock points defeat. On the bright side, Jack did win the return six months later, but it is noticeable how small he is for a light-middleweight. It might benefit him if he could possibly boil down to welterweight.
Koelling and Zeuge are progressing slowly, but already they appear to lack the punch power required, even at the low level at which they are fighting, to finish their fights. This writer has failed to be impressed by either of these two and can so easily see both of them suffering the same fate as some of the previously mentioned fighters when they are stepped up in class in 2015. Of course, they are nice, neat boxers, but this is simply not enough in the pro game where a bit of devil is required – just ask Marco and Arthur.
The main problem though is how the team are going to replace their fading stars. They really require four headline fighters, who are expected to top three cards each per year. However, Abraham is probably only a couple of days away from his final fight. He goes in to his rubber match with Robert Stieglitz on Saturday as the distinct outsider. Despite winning their first meeting (his last fine performance), Arthur was stopped in three in the rematch with a closed left eye and has not looked the same fighter since. In his two subsequent fights, Abraham has looked disinterested and the feeling is that Saturday’s fight is one final payday for him before heading into retirement to enjoy his fast cars.
Also at the veteran stage is WBA light-heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer. Braehmer has only recently been brought into the Sauerland team, after having represented their fierce German rivals Universum for many years beforehand. Already though Juergen could be just one fight away from the end of his career. He is showing distinct signs of wear and tear and fragility and although he will be a heavy favourite in his first defence in April against Britain’s Enzo Maccarinelli, that will not be a walk in the park for the German.
That leaves Marco Huck and Yoan Pablo Hernandez as the other two headliners. Huck looks as though he will go on forever and has been an absolute godsend for the Sauerland team. He draws big crowds and is almost always involved in wildly exciting fights. One just cannot see this ending any time soon and Huck’s desire to have another crack at the heavyweight division should bring more thrills and spills over the next couple of years. Hernandez has been another huge success story for the team, and is also regularly involved in terrifically exciting slugfests, with his vulnerability all too noticeable. They could feasibly match the Cuban well enough to keep him as champion for another couple of years yet.
It is hard to see where the next headliner is going to come from though. Jack Culcay has a large following and is very popular, but he is fighting well short of European title level and is already struggling to keep his head above water. Kubrat Pulev, the Bulgarian top contender for the heavyweight title, is certainly good enough to headline shows, but at the moment he does not seem to have captured the imagination of the German public and may not sell enough tickets to make this feasible. Surely, though, if he can win a version of the world title, he is a prime candidate to do so during the next couple of years.
Considering the current state of their crop, the Sauerlands may have to consider bringing in some already established fighters to their team. To this end they have signed up tarnished British heavyweight David Price, who will always provide excitement. David has determined that he is going to learn German, which should certainly ingratiate him to the locals. His performances inside the ring should speak for themselves. It seems possible that the Sauerlands will bring in at least one other established fighter in the near future. However, this did not work too well with Alexander Povetkin, whose contract has now expired and who is already seeking pastures new.
It must be said that throughout the years, the Sauerland shows have been amongst the best and most consistent, quality-wise, in the world. Barely a show goes by without drama and excitement aplenty. Neither do they baby their fighters. Once they have been through the required apprenticeship, they are expected to step up and are provided with the opposition in order for them to do so. Should they fail, they are usually given a second chance, but no more than that, as their contracts are quickly cancelled. No passengers are carried in this organisation and in order to keep the quality of the shows high, this is an absolute requirement.
Having said that, in order to stabilise the situation even the Sauerlands are having to be extra careful with their matchmaking. On their last show, in January, they resorted to bringing in nondescript, unthreatening Georgian opposition for their young hopefuls Koelling and Zeuge. The Sauerlands carry so much influence with the governing bodies that they managed to have both of these fights sanctioned for minor belts by the WBO. However, this led to an unusually substandard show from the team.
It is imperative for boxing in Europe that the Sauerlands recover from this temporary lull in their fortunes. With the demise of the Acaries brothers in France and Franco Cherchi’s organisation in Italy, top-class professional boxing in those two countries has become virtually defunct. Boxing therefore needs the Sauerlands to be strong. It would be an absolute disaster for the sport were they to go into irreversible decline.
So, is the Sauerland crown slipping? It would be going too far to say that, but it is most definitely tilting very slightly. Going by experience though, this highly professional outfit will recover from its recent setbacks and continue providing us with great entertainment for years to come. Here’s hoping!
