Icon: enlarge
Felix Sturm at his trial in late April
Photo: Christoph Hardt / imago images / Future Image
Former boxing world champion Felix Sturm, 41, wants to return to the ring despite being convicted of tax evasion and doping.
"I train six times a week, I'm fit. I want to have four to six more fights," said the former champion in an interview with SPIEGEL.
Sturm was sentenced to three years in prison in late April.
Until December 2019, he spent over eight months in custody.
"This time has to be credited to me. I hope that a partial sentence will be recognized and that I can serve the rest of my prison term in an open prison. That would give me the opportunity to prepare for a fight."
In SPIEGEL, Sturm spoke for the first time about his imprisonment in the high-security wing of the Cologne prison: "There was a large barred window. For the first five and a half months I stared at a red brick wall. I could walk for two hours a day. One lap was 60 paces. I am I ran 150 to 200 laps to get to the kilometers. Monday to Friday I had three hours of free time, we played table football and played cards. I studied in Mau-Mau prison. "
After his last World Cup victory in 2016 against the Russian Fyodor Tschudinow, Sturm tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol and was later convicted of doping abuse and assault.
In SPIEGEL, he denies having cheated.
"We have to wait and see whether the Federal Court of Justice accepts the appeal. If that is the case, the proceedings will certainly drag on into next year."
He wants to accept the verdict for tax evasion: "I made a big mistake here, for which I am responsible."
Icon: The mirror
sve