Boxing: From container ship to boxing Olympics

Artem and Robert Harutyunyan were born in Armenia, fled from their homeland to Germany because of the civil war, lived in an asylum centre, without money or the prospect of a better future – Artem and Robert Harutyunyan had to endure a lot in their past. But they have never lost sight of their goal: to be in the ring one day as a professional boxer. Now they are on the verge of making their dream come true.

“We’ll never fight, we promised our mother,”says Robert Harutyunyan.”We,”that’s him and his brother Artem. Following the mantra of their great role models Vladimir and Vitali Klitschko, they do not want to slap each other’s fists in the face.

The project Weltmeister-Brüder 2.0 – a proven marketing approach. But manager Ismail Özen also thinks:”I could very well imagine that the two successors of Klitschkos will become” On Saturday they will make their professional debut together in Hamburg – if you look at their life so far, it’s like a boxing fairy tale, as it’s written in the book.

Because the way there was long and stony. Born in Armenia, the parents and their two brothers fled a year later. The homeland destroyed by the civil war, Germany should become the new home.

Father Aram was a Taekwondo teacher for the Armenian military and had his own Taekwondo school. Since the beginning, Mr. Papa has been the coach and supporter of his two boys – they acquired the boxing skills in a club in Hamburg.

When the family arrived in Hamburg, they lived in a container ship for one year. Afterwards, the Harutyunyans spent six years in an asylum centre:”It took us about ten years to get out of our asylum life,”Artem recalls in retrospect. Even Hartz IV had to move into the refugee family, there was no money available – that looks different today.

We want to show them that boxing can help you – and that you can even win a medal for your country,”the brothers said:” We know what it’s like to come to a foreign country and understand how the refugees feel.

The fact that the two Hamburg flagship migrants have a lot behind their fists was already evident at a young age. In their respective weight category (artem up to 64 kilograms, Robert up to 60 kilograms) the two won all titles in their youth and were quickly under the supervision of the so-called “World Champion Maker”coach Michael Timm.

In Schwerin, they trained together with Timm at the Olympic base in Schwerin and learned from the experienced ex-champion everything that should be essential for the future. Timm’s nickname was to be confirmed a little later when Artem won the AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) World Championship title and qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio 2016.

His brother Robert originally wanted to participate in the Rio Games, but he retired from the Euro-Quali and could not participate in the World Qualifying in Azerbaijan because of his background:”At that time it was politically tricky for Armenians in Azerbaijan. It was life-threatening for me to travel there,”revealed the number one lightweight in Germany at Oriental Night.

At first, attention was focused entirely on Artem. Boxing legends such as Marco Huck, with a view of Rio, only wished him the best of the SID:”I believe in him. Good luck!”

And indeed, the 27-year-old actually took a medal from Brazil with him, the first for Germany in boxing in twelve years. Artem fought his way to the semi-finals in Rio, where he had to admit defeat after points to his 13 centimetre opponent Sotomayor from Azerbaijan.

“I am happy to win another medal for Germany after such a long time. I owe it all to my family and my coach,”said the overjoyed bronze medallist to SID after his defeat in Rio. In November 2016 Artem received the silver bay leaf for his bronze medal.

However, a lot of time has passed since this success. Not everything didn’t go as planned, especially the home World Championships in Hamburg at the end of August ended for the brothers as a disappointment. Artem already retired from the quarter-finals, his brother was only used as a substitute boxer. All the more reason for the duo to embrace a change – and decided to venture into professional boxing.

“This is a loss. As a personality, Artem and Robert were also a figurehead for the association,”said Michael Müller, Sports Director of the German Boxing Federation (DBV). Former World Champion Artur Grigorian, who has been the new coach of the Harutyunyans since then, saw already at the World Championships that Artem should fight more than just three laps, as usual in amateur boxing.

On the 25th. The first professional fight is now taking place in November, before 400 invited guests, as part of the “Fight for your life”project, which helps children from a migrant background to find their way better into society.

Olympia is still an issue, but is no longer in the foreground, says the two boxers:”Of course the dream of Olympia is still there. But first let’s focus on professional boxing.”