Mahmoud Charr (), previously known as Manuel Charr, is a Syrian-German professional boxer. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title (Regular version) twice between 2017 and 2024.

Early life Charr is the son of a Syrian father and a Lebanese mother; he has claimed he was born in Beirut, Lebanon,Son of Syria prepares for shot at the title. In: Aljazeera English, 7. September 2012. but official record-keepers list his birthplace as Homs, Syria. In 1989, his mother fled to Germany with six of her eight children. His father had died in the Lebanese Civil War. Charr started his martial arts career with Muay Thai at the age of 17. Two years later, he became the German Champion and the European Champion in Thai Boxing at age 19, the youngest German champion to date. At one point, Charr was invited to a training camp for professional boxers at the famous Max Schmeling Gym in Berlin, where his professional boxing career started under the supervision of the famous German boxing coach Ulli Wegner.

Amateur career 2002 TeutoCup Champion (Germany) 2003 District Champion (Germany) 2004 Westfahlen Champion (Germany) 2004 Western German Champion

Professional career After compiling a perfect record of 21–0, Charr fought WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko on September 8, 2012 in Moscow, Russia. Charr was knocked down in the second round with a right hook, and he lost the bout by fourth-round technical knockout when it was stopped due to a cut received as a result of Klitschko's punches. Charr strongly protested the stoppage but the decision remained the same, giving Charr the first defeat of his professional career.

Charr defended his WBC International Silver heavyweight title against Yakup Saglam in Galaţi, Romania on February 22, 2013.

He turned up to the post-fight press conference of the David Haye vs. Derek Chisora fight on 14 July 2012 in order to challenge the victorious Haye. Charr and Haye agreed to fight at Manchester Arena on 29 June 2013, but on 14 May, Haye pulled out due to a hand injury sustained in training. Haye went on to agree to fight undefeated Tyson Fury instead on 28 September, but that bout was also cancelled.

Charr improved his record to 26–1 with wins over Oleksiy Mazikin, Dennis Bakhtov and Kevin Johnson, before challenging highly-ranked Alexander Povetkin on 30 May 2014 for the vacant WBC International title in Moscow, Russia. Charr lost the bout by seventh-round knockout, suffering his second career loss.

Charr's fight against Povetkin was the first of five consecutive bouts that subsequently took place in Russia, the last of which was a brutal one-punch fifth-round knockout defeat to Mairis Breidis on 22 August 2015 in Grozny, Chechnya.

After improving to 30–4, Charr faced Alexander Ustinov for the vacant WBA (Regular) title in Oberhausen, Germany on 25 November 2017, and won by unanimous decision. Despite the "Regular" title being secondary to the WBA's "Super" title which at the time was held by Anthony Joshua, the victory nonetheless meant that Charr was the first German heavyweight world champion in 85 years.

A few days before Charr was scheduled to defend his WBA (Regular) title against Fres Oquendo in September 2018, Charr tested positive for drostanolone and trenbolone, and as a result the fight was cancelled.

In January 2021, Charr was stripped of his WBA (Regular) title due to inactivity. More than 3 years since he last fought, Charr returned to the ring on 15 May 2021 and recorded his 32nd career victory, with a second-round knockout of undefeated Christopher Lovejoy. Following extensive litigation with the WBA, Charr's title was restored on 31 August 2023 as part of a court settlement, and he was ordered to defend against Jarrell Miller by 14 October of that year, with the winner to face the next highest contender. This came just five days after the WBA eliminated the "regular" title in a consolidation bout that was part of the organization's efforts to reduce the number of champions per division. The 14 October deadline came and went, the fight with Miller failing to materialize due to reported financial issues. As a result, the WBA granted Charr a 60-day extension to find a new opponent.

Eventually, Charr was scheduled to fight Kubrat Pulev in Bulgaria on March 30, 2024. Charr tore his bicep in training and fight was postponed until September. The fight eventually took place on 7 December 2024 in Sofia, Bulgaria, with Pulev winning a unanimous points decision and the WBA (Regular) title.

Personal life In 2015, an altercation at a kebab shop in Essen, Germany led to a drive-by shooting which left Charr shot four times in the abdomen and forced to undergo emergency surgery that night to save his life. Charr was dining with rapper Kay One at the time of the incident, which occurred following an argument with an online troll who had been abusing the boxer for some weeks. The perpetrator, whom Charr identified to police, turned himself in to the police. Charr underwent double-hip replacement surgery in May 2017.

Charr announced on social media that on April 24, 2024 his first son was born in the Kings College Hospital of Dubai.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes39Loss34–5Kubrat PulevUD127 Dec 202438Win34–4Nuri SeferiTKO2 (10), 21 Dec 202237Win33–4Nikola MilačićKO3 (10), 28 May 202236Win32–4Christopher LovejoyKO2 (12), 15 May 202135Win31–4Alexander UstinovUD1225 Nov 201734Win30–4Sefer SeferiUD1017 Sep 201633Win29–4Andrei MazanikTKO7 (8), 4 Jun 201632Loss28–4Mairis BriedisKO5 (10), 22 Aug 201531Win28–3Alex LeapaiUD1022 May 201530Loss27–3Johann DuhaupasMD1010 Apr 201529Win27–2Michael GrantRTD5 (10), 24 Oct 201428Loss26–2Alexander PovetkinKO7 (12), 30 May 201427Win26–1Kevin JohnsonUD1012 Apr 201426Win25–1Dennis BakhtovRTD5 (12), 19 Oct 201325Win24–1Oleksiy MazikinKO3 (12), 15 Jun 201324Win23–1Yakup SaglamRTD2 (12), 22 Feb 201323Win22–1Konstantin AirichKO1 (12), 22 Dec 201222Loss21–1Vitali KlitschkoTKO4 (12), 8 Sep 201221Win21–0Taras BidenkoUD1230 Mar 201220Win20–0Marcelo NascimentoRTD8 (12), 18 Nov 201119Win19–0Serdar Uysal1 (6), 3 Sep 201118Win18–0Danny WilliamsTKO7 (8), 25 Jun 201117Win17–0Jonathan PasiTKO5 (8), 19 Feb 201116Win16–0Zack PageMD84 Dec 201015Win15–0Robert Hawkins5 (8), 19 Nov 201014Win14–0Owen BeckTKO10 (10), 9 Jan 201013Win13–0Sherman WilliamsUD1010 Oct 200912Win12–0Ramon HayesTKO3 (8), 6 Jun 200911Win11–0Gbenga OloukunKO7 (8), 25 Apr 200910Win10–0Adnan SerinUD631 May 20089Win9–0Edgars KalnārsUD419 Apr 20088Win8–0Aleksandrs SelezensUD45 Apr 20087Win7–0Pedro Carrion813 May 20066Win6–0Radovan KucaKO1 (6), 8 Apr 20065Win5–0Stefan BaumannTKO1 (6), 28 Jan 20064Win4–0Valentin Marinel2 (4), 16 Jul 20053Win3–0Özcan CetinkayaUD411 Jun 20052Win2–0Nandor Kovacs2 (4)28 May 20051Win1–0David Vicena414 May 2005

Viewership International Date Fight Country Network Viewers Source 8 September 2012 Vitali Klitschko vs. Manuel Charr Germany RTL Television 8,750,000 Total viewership 8,750,000

References

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