Sven Ottke (born 3 June 1967) is a German former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2004. He was a unified super-middleweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 1998 to 2004, and the WBA (Unified) title from 2003 to 2004. With 21 successful title defences, Ottke was the fourth European boxer to retire as an undefeated world champion, after Jack McAuliffe, Terry Marsh, and Michael Loewe; Joe Calzaghe later became the fifth. Ottke defended the title against 20 boxers, a record in the super-middleweight division shared with Joe Calzaghe. As an amateur, Ottke won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 1989 World Championships.
Early life Sven Ottke was born in Spandau, West Berlin. He served two apprenticeships as a plasterer and industrial clerk. He became a member of the boxing club Spandauer BC 26 Berlin at the age of 14.
Amateur career He rebutted his critics, who had contended that he had started too late, when he became German Champion at the age of 18 at Middleweight. Ten further titles would follow. He took part in the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. He became European Champion in 1991 and 1996, and came third in 1993.
Ottke held amateur wins over Antonio Tarver, Chris Byrd, Michael Moorer, Zsolt Erdei and Juan Carlos Gómez. Amateur Record: 256-47-5 German Middleweight Champion (FRG) 1985–1989 German National Middleweight Champion (1990–1991, 1995–1996) German National Light Heavyweight Champion (1992–1993) Three time Olympian
Ottke finished his amateur career with a record of 256 wins, 47 losses (at least 4 by knockout), and 5 draws. As in his professional career, he spent most of his amateur career within Germany. Ottke failed to pass the quarterfinals of the few World Championships and Olympic games he participated in, apart from the Moscow 1989, where he dropped out of the semifinals.Sven Ottke Partial Record - Amateur Boxing Results.
Professional career After 308 fights as an amateur, of which he won 256, he turned professional in 1997. Less than a year later on 24 October 1998, he won the IBF super middleweight championship from Charles Brewer via a disputed decision victory. After this he made 16 successful defenses of his IBF title against fighters such as Thomas Tate (twice), Glen Johnson, Silvio Branco, James Butler, Anthony Mundine, Charles Brewer in a rematch, and a controversial points win against Robin Reid. He was at the peak of his career when he won the WBA title on 13 March 2003 against WBA champion Byron Mitchell, winning by split points decision.
After successfully defending his title 21 times, Ottke stepped down as undefeated world champion on 27 March 2004. Ottke has a record of 34 wins and 0 losses as a professional, of which 6 were by knockout. He was named IBF "Fighter of the Year" in 2003.
Ottke was a durable and attritional fighter, with most of his wins coming by points decisions rather than knockout.
Notably, Ottke refused to defend his title outside Germany, and referees and ringside officials were often German. It has been alleged that both the refereeing and some of the points decisions were corrupt and biased, with many commentators in the Reid fight, in particular, commenting that it was some of the worst refereeing that they had seen and alleged corrupt judging being the only reason Ottke kept his title. Reid had stated his intention to pursue a rematch against old foe Joe Calzaghe if he were to win; the latter, holding the WBO belt, called out Ottke instead for a unification title match, but Ottke took only one more fight and then retired.
Planned comeback In May 2008, a comeback was planned against Dariusz Michalczewski in Germany, but the match never materialized.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes34Win34–0Armand KrajncUD1227 Mar 200433Win33–0Robin ReidUD1213 Dec 200332Win32–0Mads Larsen126 Sep 200331Win31–0David StarieUD1214 Jun 200330Win30–0Byron MitchellSD1215 Mar 200329Win29–0Rudy MarkussenUD1216 Nov 200228Win28–0Joe GattiTKO9 (12), 24 Aug 200227Win27–0Thomas TateUD121 Jun 200226Win26–0 Rick ThornberryUD1216 Mar 200225Win25–0 Anthony MundineKO10 (12)1 Dec 200124Win24–0James ButlerUD121 Sep 200123Win23–0Ali EnnebatiTKO11 (12), 29 Jun 200122Win22–0James CrawfordKO8 (12), 24 Mar 200121Win21–0Silvio BrancoUD1216 Dec 200020Win20–0Charles BrewerSD122 Sep 200019Win19–0Tocker PudwillUD123 Jun 200018Win18–0Lloyd BrianUD1211 Mar 200017Win17–0Glen JohnsonUD1227 Nov 199916Win16–0Thomas Tate11 (12), 4 Sep 199915Win15–0Gabriel HernándezUD128 May 199914Win14–0Giovanni Nardiello3 (12), 27 Feb 199913Win13–0Charles Brewer1224 Oct 199812Win12–0William KrijnenUD1022 Aug 199811Win11–0Asmir VojnovićUD1230 May 199810Win10–0Stephane NizardUD821 Mar 19989Win9–0Allen Smith528 Feb 19988Win8–0Ali SaidiUD1013 Dec 19977Win7–0Roman BabaevUD818 Oct 19976Win6–0Fermin ChirinoUD630 Aug 19975Win5–0Yuri FilipkoUD822 Jun 19974Win4–0Andy Flute61 Jun 19973Win3–0Teymuraz KekelidzePTS626 Apr 19972Win2–0Jason HartTKO2 (6), 13 Apr 19971Win1–0Eric Davis622 Mar 1997
Television viewership
Germany
Date Fight Viewership () Source(s) Sven Ottke vs. Silvio Branco Sven Ottke vs. James Crawford Sven Ottke vs. Joe Gatti Sven Ottke vs. Byron Mitchell Sven Ottke vs. Robin Reid Total viewership 29,650,000
References
External links
Amateur record