Gustave Roth

Gustave Roth
Data
Birth Name	Gustave Roth
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	Belgian
birthday	March 12, 1909
place of birth	Antwerp
Date of death	September 14, 1982
style	Left-hand boom
size	1.83 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	137
Victories	113
Knockout victories	25th
Defeats	11
draw	12

Gustave Roth (born March 12, 1909 in Antwerp , † September 14, 1982 ) was a Belgian boxer . He was world champion and European champion of professional boxers.

Career

Gustave Roth became a professional boxer at the age of 18. He played his first fight in Brussels against his compatriot Georges Covent , which he won after six rounds on points. At the beginning of his career, he weighed less than 70 kg and boxed light and welterweight. After a series of development battles, he won against the German lightweight champion Fritz Ensel in 1929 by knocking out in the 4th round. He also defeated his strong compatriots Eduard Baudry and Leo Darton and got the opportunity to box on September 9, 1929 in Charleroi against Alf Genon for the European welterweight championship. Gustave Roth won this fight over 15 rounds on points and became European champion at the age of 20 .

In the next few years he successfully defended this title a total of twelve times. Particularly noteworthy are his points victories over the German master Gustav Eder on February 3, 1930 in Frankfurt am Main and on August 30, 1931 in Berlin, as well as over the Dutch hub Huizenaar on November 18, 1931 in Brussels. He was lucky in the fight against the Czech Franta Kekolny , against whom he came to a happy draw on March 16, 1931 in Prague .

His thirteenth title defense, which took place in Brussels on October 26, 1932, brought him no luck. He fought against his compatriot Adrien Anneet and had to be disqualified in the 6th round because of a headbutt. 1933 defeated Gustave Roth u. a. again two top German boxers. He had meanwhile moved up to the middleweight division and beat Hein Domgörgen on February 25, 1933 in Brussels and Gypsy Trollmann on May 16, 1933 in Antwerp, each on points. On June 24, 1933 Gustave Roth was in Bucharest by a point victory over the Romanian Gheorghe Axioti new European middleweight champion.

On March 17, 1934 Gustave Roth successfully defended this title in Brussels against the German Erich Seelig by winning points over 15 rounds. On May 3, 1934 it came to the fight against the French middleweight champion Marcel Thil in Paris . It was about the European championship title in middleweight and light heavyweight as well as the world championship of the IBU in middleweight. The IBU was a European competitor to the World Boxing Association, which was founded in 1913 by European boxing associations because European boxers felt they were disadvantaged compared to American ones. The IBU world champions were not recognized in the United States, the Mecca of professional boxing, and their importance was therefore greatly reduced. Marcel Thil won this fight after 15 rounds on points.

On April 24, 1935 Gustave Roth won the Belgian middleweight championship against the young Karel Sys in Ostend and defeated the Austrian light heavyweight champion Heinz Lazek on points on September 1, 1936 in Vienna . On October 29, 1936, he fought in Berlin for the title of European champion and IBU world champion in light heavyweight against Adolf Witt, which had meanwhile become free again . Gustave Roth won over 15 rounds on points and was thus world and European light heavyweight champion.

He then successfully defended these titles four times. On March 24, 1937 in Brussels by a points victory over Preciso Merlo from Italy , on May 1, 1937 in Antwerp by a point victory over the Swede John Andersson (boxer) , on December 1, 1937 in Brussels by a draw against Karel Sys and on January 21, 1938 in Berlin by a draw against Jupp Besselmann from Cologne . On March 25, 1938, he then lost both titles in Berlin to the dreaded knockout racket Adolf Heuser . Gustave Roth also had to capitulate prematurely to Heuser. He was incapacitated in the 7th round.

After that, Gustave Roth fought on until 1945. But he didn't get a chance to box for an international title again. Two more fights against Karel Sys should be mentioned. On July 2, 1941, Gustave Roth lost in Brussels for the first time against Karel Sys in the fight for the Belgian heavyweight championship and on May 25, 1942 he won over Sys in Antwerp on points and was again Belgian heavyweight champion. Gustave Roth played his last fight on February 7, 1945 in Brussels against the Belgian light heavyweight champion Pol Goffaux . This fight ended in a draw.

Gustave Roth then resigned from boxing. He had an extraordinarily successful career. In 137 fights he fought, he had lost only eleven times. Very few top boxers in the world and in Europe can look back on such good results.

swell

• Box Sport magazine

Web links

• Gustave Roth in the BoxRec database