No boxing match has attracted more attention in Germany in recent decades than the fight for the heavyweight crown according to the IBF version between Axel Schulz and Francois Botha.
Over 18 million people wanted to watch the TV sets RTL or witness live on site in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart how the then 27-year-old Axel Schulz wanted to be crowned heavyweight world champion on December 9, 1995, becoming the first German since Max Schmeling.
The fight against South African Botha was Schulz’s second chance to secure a world championship belt. The Brandenburg native’s first heavyweight world championship against boxing legend George Foreman turned into a night of scandal. Despite a courageous fight and the supposedly better performance, Schulz lost on points against the old master Foreman.
Nevertheless, the fight helped Schulz gain an enormous boost in popularity, even beyond Germany’s borders. Years later, Schulz revealed to “Bild”: “I think I wasn’t allowed to win. There was too much money involved.”
The sporting event of 1995: Axel Schulz vs. Francois Botha
Since the 46-year-old Foreman refused a rematch against Schulz, December ’95 presented the southpaw with a second opportunity to finally become world champion.
The fight for the vacant IBF belt between Schulz and Botha became the sporting event of the year in the Federal Republic. The attention and expectations were correspondingly huge. Botha, who was the same age, was a completely unknown quantity in this country and was not given any serious World Cup chances. Axel Schulz, on the other hand, was given the greatest possible stage to reach his personal career peak in front of his home audience.
But everything turned out completely differently: While trainer Manfred Wolke’s protégé presented himself far too passive, almost reserved, from the start, Botha boxed aggressively and took risks. Schulz handled the South African’s combinations well, but also appeared far too lethargic in the second half of the fight.
Schulz boxes too courageously and weakly
In the final rounds, the two exhausted heavyweights spent most of their time just sneaking around each other or taking time off the clock by clutching each other. Even though the thousands of Schulz fans in the Stuttgart Arena became noticeably more dissatisfied and impatient, Axel Schulz was no longer able to turn the fight around at the end.
After the fight, both boxers initially felt like winners
The more active Botha celebrated before the judges announced their verdict and raised both fists upwards. Schulz, on the other hand, didn’t want to fully admit what was ultimately inevitable: he also lost his second world championship fight – very narrowly after a split decision by the three judges.
The loyal Schulz supporters and German boxing fans initially did not want to accept the result and protested loudly, as they sensed the next betrayal of their protégé after the scandalous verdict of the Foreman fight. Glasses and bottles flew into the ring and several spectators in the front rows were slightly injured.
Botha doped – fight cancelled
None of this was of any use. The world championship belt was gone, for the second time. But fate had another twist in store for the 1.91 meter German giant. A few days after supposedly winning the title, Francois Botha was found to have taken the banned steroid Nondrolon. Botha was stripped of the IBF title and the verdict on the fight night in Stuttgart was henceforth “No Contest”.
Schulz felt betrayed and said years later in the “BZ”: “I still haven’t forgiven Botha. In my opinion, I won the fight anyway. But the powerful promoter king Don King was sitting at the ring.” After all: 20 years later, Botha visited his former opponent in Frankfurt/Oder and apologized for his doping offense.
In 2015, Botha and Schulz (r.) met in Frankfurt/Oder
Axel Schulz also lost his third world championship fight six months after the canceled Botha fight. But this did little damage to his popularity. Until the end of his career, he filled the arenas in Berlin, Dortmund, Cologne and Leipzig and captivated an audience of millions to their TV sets.
On a sporting level, Schulz was denied a really big victory. However, it was significant that his career ended with devastating knockout defeats against Wladimir Klitschko in 1999 and in his comeback attempt against Brian Minto seven years later.
Mats Yannick Roth