Oktay Urkal

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Oktay Urkal boxer
Data
Birth Name Oktay Urkal
Weight class Welterweight
nationality GermanyGermany German
birthday 15th January 1970
place of birth West Berlin
style Left delivery
size 1.74 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles 42
Victories 38
Knockout victories 12
Defeats 4th
Profile in the BoxRec database

Oktay Urkal (born January 15, 1970 in West Berlin ) is a former German professional boxer of Turkish descent in the light welterweight division. Since 2009 he has been training Gökalp Özekler for the EVIL team in Hamburg. He is married and has two children.

As an amateur boxer, he was World Cup winner in 1994, European champion in 1996 and silver medalist at the 1996 Olympic Games. As a professional, he was twice European champion of the EBU and fought for the world titles of the WBA and WBC .

Beginnings / amateur

Oktay Urkal, one of four sons and two daughters of Turkish immigrants, was taken to boxing training by his brothers when he was ten. He made his first attempts in the boxing ring at the Schönberger Boxfreunde club, but then switched to the Neukölln Sportfreunde , of which he is an honorary member, where successes quickly ensued. Of all the Urkal boys, he was given the greatest talent. In addition to winning eight Berlin championship titles and two German team championships, he became German runner- up in 1992 immediately after obtaining German citizenship .

In 1993, 1994 and 1995 he was German light welterweight champion, and he also won the chemistry cup in 1993 and 1994 . In May 1993 he took part in the 7th World Championships in Tampere and won a bronze medal in the light welterweight division. After victories against Eamonn Magee from Ireland, Pasquale Buonnano from Italy and Sergei Bykowskiy from Belarus, he lost in the semifinals to the Olympic champion Héctor Vinent from Cuba. In September of the same year, he also became vice European light welterweight champion in Bursa . He prevailed against the Finn Marko Nieminen, again against the Belarusian Sergei Bykowskiy and the Romanian Leonard Doroftei , before he lost in the final to the Turkish Nurhan Süleymanoğlu .

In June 1994 he won the 7th World Cup in Bangkok . He defeated Farkhad Bakirow (Uzbekistan), Nordine Mouchi (France), now also Héctor Vinent (Cuba), Bulat Niazymbetow (Kazakhstan) and Abdellah Benbiar (Morocco). In April 1996 he was finally European light welterweight champion in Vejle . He defeated Tonton Semakala from Sweden, Thomas Damgaard from Denmark, Jacek Bielski from Poland, again Sergei Bykowskiy from Belarus and in the final also Nurhan Süleymanoğlu.

At the 8th World Championships in Berlin in May 1995 , he again won a bronze medal. He beat James Pender from Scotland, Faustino Reyes from Spain and Gerry Legras from the Seychelles before losing to Nurhan Suleymanoglu in the semifinals.

His greatest achievement was winning the light welterweight silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta . He won in the preliminary round 19: 2 on points against Reynaldo Galido from the Philippines, in the second round 14: 6 against the American David Díaz , in the quarter-finals 19:10 against Nordine Mouchi from France and in the semifinals 20: 6 against the Tunisian Fathi Missaoui . In the final he lost again 13:20 against the Cuban Héctor Vinent.

Professional career

At the end of 1996 he made his debut in Klaus-Peter Kohl's Universum boxing stable with the professionals with a point victory over the Belgian Andre Höffler. He convinced the professionals with great athleticism, but showed little clout (low knockout rate).

2000 Urkal was the first time European light welterweight champion against the Russian Mikhail Kriwolapow. He put this title down after two successful defenses in 2001 in order to gain the world championship belt of the associations WBA and WBC in the fight against Kostya Tszyu . On June 21, 2001, Urkal lost this spectacular fight just on points after breaking a lower jaw during the fight. Oktay Urkal showed great mental stability in this fight. This psychological stability was thanks to the Hamburg graduate psychologist Eckard Winderl , who had previously successfully trained Dariusz Michalczewski mentally. The fight not only aroused the minds of the audience or his fans. Even Don King , the famous Boxpromotor the USA, noticed him and offered him a contract to. But Urkal didn't want to leave Germany, but switched to the Sauerland boxing stable and to his old coach Wegner.

In the following year Oktay Urkal took back his European championship belt and successfully defended it three times. In 2004 he got his next chance on the world championship belt, losing the fight against Vivian Harris just on points, but the rematch in the same year by technical knockout . After this defeat, Urkal was already thinking of resigning, but Wegner was again motivated and built up.

Welterweight

In 2005 Oktay Urkal won the European title for the third time, this time in the world class, and successfully defended the title in the same year before he voluntarily gave it up again. Urkal had been named a mandatory challenger against the world champion by the WBA and was supposed to play against Luis Collazo . However, this encounter did not take place. It was therefore agreed that the Urkal should box against the winner of the game Ricky Hatton against Collazo. Hatton, who won the title in May 2006, put it down again to return to the light welterweight division. The WBA initially ordered that Urkal should fight for the vacant title against Miguel Cotto , who had risen from the light welterweight division . However, Urkal accepted a financial offer that enabled the better-known Carlos Quintana to fight Cotto. Miguel Cotto won the WBA title by technical knockout and sought his mandatory defense against Urkal on March 3, 2007 in his home country Puerto Rico . Urkal lost the fight by a technical knockout in round eleven, when his coach Ulli Wegner threw in the towel as a sign of the task.

Volunteering

In August 2006, Oktay Urkal was the patron of the Berlin event Respect Gaymes , a sports tournament in the sports of football, streetball and martial arts, in which gay and lesbian athletes also took part. Urkal was depicted on a poster under the slogan "Show respect for gays and lesbians". Oktay's original comment on this in the taz of August 28, 2006: “I don't think that this will immediately arouse displeasure with the fans. I guess they know who I am and know that I am not gay. Some youngsters may now think that I'm doing publicity for the gays. But I'm not gay, I have a family. But why shouldn't I protect people who are not up to it, who cannot defend themselves, who are weak, gays and lesbians. When I am weak, I also need help from others. Now I try to use my fame so that others do not hit the defenseless. "

successes

as an amateur:

  • 1988–1995: Berlin master
  • 1993 and 1996: German team champion
  • 1993-1995: German light welterweight champion in series
  • 1993: Vice European champion, third place in the World Cup, winner of the chemistry cup
  • 1994: World Cup winner, chemistry cup winner
  • 1995: Third place in the World Cup
  • 1996: European champion and Olympic runner-up

Fight data: 216 fights, 184 wins, 5 draws, 27 losses

as a professional:

  • 2000: European champion, title successfully defended twice, then voluntary surrender
  • 2002: European champion, title successfully defended three times, then voluntary surrender
  • 2005: European welterweight champion, title successfully defended once, then voluntary surrender

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Boxing at the Neukölln Sportfreunde. A department of the Neukölln Sportfreunde since 1923.
  2. ↑ Jörg Lubrich, Ulli Klemm: First to the psychologist, then Beyer boom . Ed .: BILD. October 9, 2004.
personal data
SURNAME Urkal, Oktay
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Turkish boxer
DATE OF BIRTH 15th January 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH West Berlin