In order to be successful in professional boxing, you need numerous qualities. Talent can not hurt, more importantly are ambition, training and discipline. Strength helps, a fighter heart and good trader skills may help even more. And finally, conscientiousness is part of it. Where sports and business meet, you have to be able to sell yourself.
Markus Beyer has proved that the last point is not the most significant. On Monday, the three-time WBC world champion in super middleweight in a hospital in Berlin died. He will be remembered as one of the greatest German boxers of the after-mask generation, although unlike many others he was not a self-actor.
The news of Beyer's death hit the boxing world like a heavy left hook that you do not see coming. For sports, it's the second hard hit in no time. On October 1, Graciano Rocchigiani had already lost a German boxing legend in a car accident.
Beyer and Rocchigiani were similar in some ways. They were born fighters, multiple world champions, until recently popular TV experts and have lived the most well-known boxer wisdom: It does not matter how many times you go down, as long as you get up again.
In other areas, the two ex-champions could not have been more different. While Rocchigiani was known and loved for his "Berliner Schnauze" and deliberately provoked with his very direct and sometimes insulting statements, Beyer was a man for the soft tones.
A real "Erzgebirge"
By the summer he had analyzed for the MDR the campaign evenings hosted by promoter Ulf Steinforth. The broadcaster announced in agreement with Beyer's family the news of death after a short, serious illness. "We not only lost a great expert, but also a good friend," says Steinforth. "I'm proud that Markus accompanied our events, we talked about boxing a lot, he was a great person and an important guide."
Beyer was born on April 28, 1971 in Erlabrunn, Saxony. Although he lived occasionally in Cologne, Berlin and Bremen during his career, he remained a life-long convinced "Erzgebirger, not Erzgebirgler", as he liked to emphasize. And he always stayed boxer.
He already celebrated his first successes as a student for SG Wismut Gera. 1988 Beyer Junior European champion in flyweight. For the reunified Germany Beyer participated in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games and in the 1993 and 1995 World Championships. It was not enough for a title, but nevertheless the amateur time paved the way for the following professional career with 235 victories in 274 fights.
The first German to become world champion three times
On 23 October 1999, Beyer dethroned in Telford, UK, WBC world champion Richie Woodhall. Woodhall went down three times and ended up with a scant point victory for Beyer. He was the third German after Max Schmeling and Ralf Rocchigiani, who could win a world title abroad.
Twice Beyer had to give up the belt in the following years again, 2004, he won the World Cup by a crashing knockout victory against Cristian Sanavia for the third time. This had never succeeded to any German before Beyer.
DPA
World Champion Beyer
In 2006, his career was effectively over, after he had been brutally knocked out by the Danish Mikkel Kessler already in the third round. With all the ups and downs always on Beyer's side: coach Ulli Wegner. "Markus was my heart boy," says Wegner. "I've always suffered and celebrated with him over all these years, he has been with me from childhood, all the big titles since the Junior European Championships, we have experienced so much together."
Wegner was also the one who brought Beyer to Berlin for treatment. "I was in treatment there myself, the chief physician is a friend of mine and a great boxing fan," says the coach. "They tried everything, but it just was not doing anything, it's tragic, I'm thinking about the family, the parents were with him when he fell asleep."
Failed comeback and return to the Erzgebirge
Against the cancer even the great fighter Beyer had no chance. His body was the only enemy he could not defeat. That was already in 2008, when a comeback attempt failed due to back problems. Although Beyer still denied a construction fight, but then had to realize that his active time was over after a fatigue break in the lumbar region.
He accepted his fate and briefly tried as a manager. In 2005 he founded a company with his partner Daniela Haak. Haak was known in the show business, she had become known as the singer of the pop combo "Mr. President". But the jet-set life that Haak had in mind was not for Beyer. In 2009, the couple separated, Beyer got out of the joint company and moved back to the Erzgebirge, where he always felt safe and at home.
He was able to enjoy the trips into the big wide world, but never really fit into it. When the World Boxing Council invited some of the greatest former world champions to Las Vegas in December 2004, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Floyd Mayweather jr, Julio Cesar Chavez, Roberto Duran and others gathered many more on stage. Beyer sat in the audience and took pictures like any normal fan. He had to be urged to join the group photo.
In the ring he was a champion like the others, outside he has always remained Erzgebirger. Markus Beyer will miss the boxing world. He was only 47 years old.