Axel Schulz turns 50: "Not a bad kid"

Actually, you always see him laughing. Maybe that's the whole secret. This contagious cheerfulness with which Axel Schulz goes through life and never looks set. He masters the two most beautiful forms of laughter: with others and with himself. Today he celebrates his 50th birthday.

Thanks to his style Schulz became the most popular German heavyweight boxer since Max Schmeling. And he succeeded, which many other athletes fail: his popularity seems to grow steadily since the end of his active career. "He has made the best of himself," says his longtime coach Manfred Wolke on Schulz. "Axel was and always is pleasant, with a good tone."

Those who approach the Schulz phenomenon athletically must actually do so through their defeats. For example, on September 25, 1999. Cologne Arena, 18,000 spectators, almost all on the part of Schulz. Hard hit, the then 30-year-old climbed out of the ring after eight of the twelve scheduled laps. The eyes were swollen shut. He had been presented by a young Vladimir Klitschko, whose world career really started that evening.

Mask, Schulz and the box boom of the 90's

"I had to take as many hits as in my entire life before," said Schulz. It was clear that his professional career was over. It started in 1990, right after the fall of the Wall. On the side of Henry Maske and with the common trainer cloud Schulz signed a contract with the then rather insignificant promoter Wilfried Sauerland.

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Two years earlier, Sauerland had made Graciano Rocchigiani World Champion. With Maske and Schulz, he was to revolutionize German professional boxing and trigger a boom from which the industry long consumed. Sauerland benefited from the fact that Maske and Schulz were so different.

Here is the "gentleman" Henry, who always tried in interviews to the most analytical possible formulations, but always seemed a bit stilted and unapproachable. There the down-to-earth Axel, whom the professional business at the beginning almost seemed to overburden, but who always spoke as his snout had grown. Simply "not a bad kid", as trainer Wolke says.

Also athletically they developed opposing. At light heavyweight mask everything went according to plan. In his 20th fight, he became world champion and defended the title ten times over the next three years. He became Sauerlands figurehead and the all-German showpiece for the successful reunification.

The bitterest defeat becomes the biggest triumph

For Schulz, who would have had even greater marketing potential as a heavyweight, it has never been enough for a major international title. When Maske won the world title in 1993, Schulz had to defeat the British Henry Akinwande in the fight for the European Championship. Two years later, the bitterest defeat followed, which was to become his biggest success.

April 22, 1995, MGM Grand in Las Vegas. On the biggest of all stages, Schulz got the unexpected chance to challenge the legendary George Foreman - more than 20 years after his "Rumble in the Jungle" against Muhammad Ali. Schulz made the fight of his life. Even many US experts thought he had won. But it did not help: The judges awarded the victory to Foreman.

Later it came out that promoter Bob Arum had bribed the president of the relevant World Federation IBF, Bob Lee, so that Schulz was even accepted as a challenger. In the US that caused a big scandal. The FBI intervened and Lee was arrested. In Germany, this was of little importance. Above all, nothing remained of the controversy about Schulz. He was just the one they had cheated in the US from that moment on.

His next World Cup fight against South African Francois Botha saw more than 18 million TV viewers - it is the highest ratings for a sporting event out of football to date. Schulz lost again. Later, the result of the fight was canceled because Botha was doped. Again the boy from the East had been brought for his wages.

From the eternal loser to the big winner

It was followed by another futile run to the World Cup against Michael Moorer, the aforementioned defeat against Klitschko and - also in the exact opposite of mask - a failed comeback attempt. In November 2006, seven years after his retirement, Schulz was beaten by the rather unknown cruiserweight Brian Minto. Shortly thereafter, a stroke was diagnosed in German.

Schulz recovered from the health shock just as quickly as from his defeats. He could have entered the German boxing history as an eternal loser, but is in the end but a big winner, popular TV expert and advertising medium. Few people probably know what the company Fackelmann actually produces. But everyone knows the name of the inevitable Schulz cap. The company is said to have paid an average six-figure amount annually.

That Schulz works as a testimonial, is due to its nature. Until today, he takes his time for anyone who wants to speak with him. Every fan gets his autograph, every journalist he leads through his hometown Frankfurt / Oder. And he makes his jokes with everyone.

Until recently, he joked regularly with Graciano Rocchigiani, whose accidental death shocked Schulz as well as the entire boxing world. All the more he now adheres to the motto that dictates his wife. "We enjoy every day," says Schulz. "Fortunately, we do not have to turn every euro over, we're fine." After years in Florida, the family now lives in Brandenburg again. "I'm just sick of that," says Schulz.