Schwerin
It is well past midnight when Jürgen Brähmer appears for the press conference. The 39-year-old takes his seat on the podium. There is blood on his right cheek, violets “bloom” under his eyes, a band-aid below his right eyebrow covers a cut that was stitched with two stitches right after the fight.
Winners actually look different. But the sight was deceptive. Brähmer did suffer a few bumps, but the Schwerin native made an impressive comeback after a one-year break from the ring. He defeated American Rob Brant on points (119:109, 118:110, 116:112) in the quarterfinals of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) for the Muhammad Ali Trophy late Friday night. In the semifinals in February, he will meet the 1.91-meter Brit Callum Smith, who was at ringside in Schwerin. “It’s a tough task, but now I’m back in it,” said Brähmer, who has returned to super middleweight and even believes he can win the Ali Trophy, which is sweetened with $8.5 million.
“A little bit more to come. That’s not all,” promised Brähmer, who lost his world title a year ago to Welshman Nathan Cleverly due to injury. “I didn’t want to go out like this,” explained the Stralsund native, who collected $1.4 million for his victory.
In front of a good 4000 spectators, Brähmer was clearly the boss in the ring. He quickly shook off the ring rust, striking with variety and dodging the attacks of the previously unbeaten American with smooth avoidance moves. With the experience of 52 professional fights (49 victories, 35 of them by knockout) he boxed his boot down. That was great!
Co-organizer Kalle Sauerland raved, “I’ve seen some good performances from Jürgen, but that was the best.” Sarah Scheurich also found, “That was boxing at its best.” The German runner-up was disappointed by the crowd, which booed Brant mercilessly and booed loudly as she entered the arena. “That was just embarrassing, that’s not possible at all,” the Schwerin native said.
Brähmer, whose semifinal will not take place in Germany, has boxed abroad only once as a professional (in Budapest in 2009). In the beginning he “wanted too much,” he admitted. “As a coach, I would have scolded, but sometimes the horses run away with you.”
Brähmer has been working as a trainer for almost 22 months. He shaped Tyron Zeuge into a world champion and coaches three other talents in Araik Marutjan, Denis Radovan and Timo Schwarzkopf.
Now he is back as a professional – and without the support of his coach Michael Timm, who is in India for the wedding of his daughter Julia (34). “He wanted to stay here,” Brähmer recounted. “I said: ‘No, drive! I’ll do it alone.'” Jokingly, he added, “At 39, you can get out of the house by yourself.” In the ring corner, for example, the fitness trainer Stefan Förster (31), who was instructed by Timm, and Zeuge gave valuable tips.
Brähmer does not have time to heal his wounds. Already today he returns to the gym – as a coach of Tyron Zeuge. The 25-year-old will defend his title against Nigerian Isaac Ekpo on December 2 in Potsdam. Araik Marutjan will also make his comeback at the event.
Brähmer still has big plans. The Schwerin resident is having an old waterworks on Medeweger Lake convertedinto a state-of-the-art gym. The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place later this year. Even with damaged eyes: Brähmer can look optimistically into the future.
