Boxing: Sensation: Charr wins WRC title and takes on Schmeling’s legacy

Manuel Charr was the first German professional boxer to win the heavyweight title since Max Schmeling. The 33-year-old defeated the favourite Russian Alexander Ustinov surprisingly and unanimously on points and thus received the vacant belt of the important world boxing federation WBA. Schmeling was the heavyweight champion from 1930 to 1932.

Charr celebrated his 31st birthday in Oberhausen. Victory is the greatest triumph of his professional career to date. The Cologne player had won the past successes of his 35 fights against second-class opponents without winning any notable titles. In 2012 he had lost the World Cup fight against Witali Klitschko in Moscow.

The fight against Ustinov was only possible because Charr had benefited from the suspensions of the doping sinners Luis Ortiz and Shannon Briggs, who were listed higher in the WBA World Ranking, and whose respective World Cup battles were disrupted.

Charr had called the fight against the 2.02-metre Ustinov the comeback of the year. In September 2015 he had been shot in a snack bar in Essen, Germany. In May of this year he was given two new hip joints and six months later he successfully returned to the ring like never before.