Simon Zachenhuber is world champion

Created: 01/24/2022, 10:00 am

By: Wolfgang Krzizok

Simon Zachenhuber (right) controlled his opponent Maurice Morio primarily with his right hand.

© Norbert Zachenhuber

Simon Zachenhuber has achieved his first major goal.

Eggenstein/Reisen – The 23-year-old professional boxer from Reisen is the IBF junior world champion in middleweight (-72.5 kilos).

At the boxing night in Eggenstein near Karlsruhe, he unanimously defeated Maurice Morio on points after ten tough rounds - and immediately sent a challenge to a very big player in the German boxing scene

"It was a long, hard fight," sums up a happy Simon Zachenhuber, who competed for the first time under his new fighting name "The Matador". "But I had my opponent under control every second and never had the feeling that I was inferior or under pressure." I'm self-critical even after a fight like that." Both are "young and hungry," says the traveler. “We both went full speed and fought each other. Above all, I used my lead hand well.”

His coach confirms that. "He did everything right," says Conny Mittermeier, who is otherwise rather reserved with praise. "We knew that Morio was a tough dog, but Simon did well tactically and boxed cleanly with his lead hand." It was particularly important "that he sometimes had to go through ten rounds".

A premature end threatened Morio only once. "It wobbled there," says Zachenhuber. "Of course I followed up, but he had very good coverage, so it wasn't easy to get through." In the last two laps, Morio tried everything again and marched forward, but the hard sparring of the last few weeks paid off here , because Zachenhuber had no problems with his condition and was able to counteract them at any time. "I took advantage of my strong physique," says the 23-year-old.

The cheering of his fans, who positioned themselves in front of the hall and organized a "public viewing" there, was curious.

Because no spectators were allowed in the hall due to the Corona regulations.

"I heard them in the hall," says Zachenhuber with a laugh.

The jubilation was particularly great when the verdict was announced: 97:94, 98:93, 98:92 in favor of the traveler was the unanimous assessment of the judges.

The beaming winner took the opportunity in the subsequent interview, challenged multiple world champion Felix Sturm and said to the 42-year-old: "It's time for a generational change!"

There's the thing!

Simon Zachenhuber with his first world championship belt.

© Norbert Zachenhuber

The traveler then went outside the hall to celebrate his first world championship title with his fans. "It was so great to see that there were many from home and also many who came from further away," says the new title holder, who proudly presented his world championship belt. After that, sleep was out of the question. "It was like after the 'Let's Dance' shows, I couldn't fall asleep until five in the morning because I was so excited," says the 23-year-old with a laugh.

"That was a big step," says Zachenhuber with satisfaction.

He points out that well-known German boxers such as Robert Stieglitz and Jürgen Doberstein won exactly this IBF junior middleweight title before him.

How to proceed now?

"Now we have to see what comes next," says coach Mittermeier.

"From now on, it's logically going to get harder and harder for Simon."

But now "The Matador" Simon Zachenhuber has a week off from training and will of course also be on vacation for a few days.

And then you look ahead to the next task.

Maybe Felix Sturm will get in touch.