Edip Sekowitsch

Edip Sekowitsch
Data
Birth Name	Edip Šećović
Weight class	Middleweight, light middleweight
nationality	Austrian
birthday	January 24, 1958
place of birth	Paljevo
Date of death	August 26, 2008
Place of death	Vienna
size	174 cm
Combat Statistics
Struggles	40
Victories	30th
Knockout victories	23
Defeats	9
draw	1

Grave of Edip Sekowitsch, Vienna Central Cemetery

Banner at Sekowitsch's bar on the day of his funeral.

Edip Sekowitsch (born January 24, 1958 in Paljevo , Yugoslavia as Едип Шећовић / Edip Šećović ; † August 26, 2008 in Vienna , Austria ) was a Yugoslav-Austrian boxer who was known under the name "Bull of Serbia". Sekowitsch was Austrian champion and European champion of the EBU in the light middleweight division.

Boxing career

Sekowitsch started boxing at the age of 14 and became a four-time Serbian youth champion of amateurs. After about 260 completed amateur fights, he moved to Austria in 1980 and became a professional middleweight boxer.

He played his first professional fight on August 31, 1981 in Villach against the undefeated Ferdinand Pachler from Vienna; Sekowitsch reached the only draw of his career. However, he won his next five fights all by knockout in one of the first two rounds.

On February 25, 1982 he suffered his first defeat in Munich when he was defeated by the later European champion Georg Steinherr by technical knockout in the sixth round. After a knockout win against Agamil Yilderim (15-3-2), he boxed twice against Franz Dorfer for the Austrian middleweight championship, but lost both times prematurely. On February 26, 1983 he lost to first round K. o. against the unbeaten Dick Katende from Uganda.

After his move to light middleweight, he won on March 31, 1983 by knockout in the third round against Esperno Postl, the Austrian championship title in this weight class. He was also able to win his next five fights, four of them early.

On February 10, 1986, he lost prematurely against Marc Ruocco, who was unbeaten in 28 fights in his native France . After eight wins in a row, including against the international German champion Niyazi Aytekin, the Dutchman John van Elteren and the two British Darwin Brewster and Ian Chantler, he boxed for the WAA title on June 1, 1988 in the Wiener Stadthalle , which he won Knocked out in the first round against the American Bryan Grant (13 wins, 12 of which by knockout).

In his next fight on June 11, 1989 in Rüsselsheim , Germany , he won the EBU European title in light middleweight by knocking out the German-Spaniard José Varela in the second round . By then Varela had won 33 of his 34 fights, 27 of them by knockout and was recognized as the best light middleweight in Europe. Already in the first round there was a curiosity when the referee did not hear the gong and a bucket flew into the ring from the corner of Varela. Discussions arose as to whether this should be seen as a task, but the fight was finally carried on normally. In the duel, Sekowitsch managed to impose his fighting style on the German-Spaniard; Varela's corner of the ring even warned her boxer not to run into the open knife. But already in the second round Varela went down twice and lost after the third knockout.

But already when he defended his title on August 20, 1989 in Terracina , he lost the title through a knockout defeat in the sixth round to the Italian Giuseppe Leto (21-4-3), for which his enormous loss of substance was blamed several times . Before the fight, Sekowitsch had massive problems boiling to the weight limit of 69.83 kg. So he did not eat or drink anything for the two days before the meeting, only took drainage tablets. When Sekowitsch was still too heavy at the first weigh-in, he did beach runs and jumping cord units at temperatures around 45 degrees, exposed himself to temperatures of more than 70 degrees in a car and finally even took off his underpants at the official weigh-in.

After this defeat, he started again in the middleweight division and boxed on November 13, 1989 for the international championship of the WBC , but lost on points against the Argentine champion and world championship challenger Hugo Corti, after which he announced the end of his career.

But already on March 1, 1991 he returned to the ring and won by knockout in the second round against the American Eric Cole. On June 19, 1993 he boxed for the IBF Intercontinental Championship in super middleweight against the Italian Salvatore Di Salvatore, but was disqualified in the eighth round controversially. When Salvatore sank after being hit in the body, Sekowitsch hit him again in the shoulder. When Salvatore was on the ground, the referee waved it off, whereupon a cheering fan base stormed into the ring to celebrate Sekowitsch's victory. The referee later claimed that he wanted to give Sekowitsch a point deduction for looking up and give Salvatore a break, but was forced to disqualify because of the onrushing crowd. It was then officially announced. By then Sekowitsch had been clearly in the lead with all three judges. Annoyed by this decision, Sekowitsch then announced the end of his career again.

On June 7, 1997 he returned to the ring again and won five fights in a row, four of them by knockout. On June 6, 1998 he managed a knockout victory in the tenth round against the former North American champion Wayne Powell (34-8-2). Also the German Mario Lupp, who had never lost prematurely in his previous 25 fights, he defeated in October 1998 by knockout in the seventh round.

Against the Colombian Juan Viloria, he lost on points in June 1999. In order not to retire with a defeat, he boxed against the South African Jongi Kamka over 14 months later and won by winning on points.

Encouraged by the comeback attempts of Axel Schulz and Henry Maske , Sekowitsch got into the ring for the last time on June 1, 2008 in Vienna at the age of 50. In the fight against the 24 years younger German Steve Klockow (4-7-1), he won by knockout in the first round.

Others

During his career he founded the two projects “Stop violence in schools” and “Children against drugs”.

After his boxing career, he first opened the “Ring Frei” bar in Vienna-Wieden , where he was able to develop as a person who enjoyed contact with everyone else. He later expanded his restaurant and founded the “Champ's Pub” next door. Sekowitsch also founded his own boxing school. So he trained z. B. the Viennese professional boxer of Serbian descent Gogi Knežević until his death .

assassination

In the early morning of August 26, 2008, Sekowitsch escorted a Chechen out of his Champ's Pub who had previously behaved aggressively towards the guests. In front of the bar, the man pulled out a jackknife and stabbed Sekowitsch five times in the face, neck and chest. One of the knife stabs hit Sekowitsch in the heart, whereupon he bled to death on the sidewalk. He left a wife, three children and a grandchild, as well as seven siblings. On September 11, 2008, he was buried in an honorary grave at Vienna's Central Cemetery , Group 10, Row 1, No. 21. On June 14, 2018, the Sekowitschweg in Vienna- Donaustadt was named after him.

The perpetrator was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on December 2, 2009 for murder. The appeal against this judgment was dismissed as unfounded on May 27, 2010 and the punishment was thus final.

Web links

Commons : Edip Sekowitsch  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• official homepage
• German Boxing Museum
• Edip Sekowitsch in the BoxRec database
• Pugilist Association Austria
• Edip Sekowitsch's murderer loses appeal process, krone.at

Individual evidence

1. ^ Opening of Sekowitschweg in the 22nd district. Retrieved June 14, 2018 .