New games! PlayTrivia andBirthle.

The Most Famous

BOXERS from Germany

This page contains a list of the greatest German Boxers. The pantheon dataset contains 326 Boxers, 8 of which were born in Germany. This makes Germany the birth place of the 11th most number of Boxers behind Mexico and France.

Top 8

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary German Boxers of all time. This list of famous German Boxers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Max Schmeling (1905 - 2005)

With an HPI of 63.21, Max Schmeling is the most famous German Boxer. His biography has been translated into 38 different languages on wikipedia.

Maximilian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling (German pronunciation: [maks ˈʃmeːlɪŋ], ; 28 September 1905 – 2 February 2005) was a German boxer who was heavyweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1932. His two fights with Joe Louis in 1936 and 1938 were worldwide cultural events because of their national associations. Schmeling is the only boxer to win the world heavyweight championship on a foul. Starting his professional career in 1924, Schmeling went to the United States in 1928 and, after a ninth-round technical knockout of Johnny Risko, became a sensation. He became the first to win the heavyweight championship (at that time vacant) by disqualification in 1930, after opponent Jack Sharkey knocked him down with a low blow in the fourth round. Schmeling retained his crown successfully in 1931 by a technical knockout victory over Young Stribling. A rematch in 1932 with Sharkey saw the American gaining the title from Schmeling by a controversial fifteen-round split decision. In 1933, Schmeling lost to Max Baer by a tenth-round technical knockout. The loss left people believing that Schmeling was past his prime. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party took over control in Germany, but Schmeling never joined the Party. The same year, he married Czech film actress Anny Ondra. In 1936, in their first fight, Schmeling knocked out American rising star Joe Louis, placing him as the number one contender for Jim Braddock's title, but Louis got the fight and knocked Braddock out to win the championship in 1937. Schmeling finally got a chance to regain his title in 1938 in the rematch, but Louis won by technical knockout in the first round. During World War II, Schmeling served with the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) as a paratrooper (Fallschirmjäger). After the war, Schmeling mounted a comeback, but retired permanently in 1948. After retiring from boxing, Schmeling worked for The Coca-Cola Company. Schmeling became friends with Louis, and their friendship lasted until the latter's death in 1981. Schmeling died in 2005 aged 99, a sporting hero in his native Germany. Long after the Second World War, it was revealed that Schmeling had risked his life to save the lives of two Jewish children in 1938. At the age of 99, Schmeling was the longest living heavyweight boxing champion in history. In 2003, Schmeling was ranked 55 on The Ring magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.

2. Herbert Runge (1913 - 1986)

With an HPI of 48.08, Herbert Runge is the 2nd most famous German Boxer. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Herbert Runge (23 January 1913 – 11 March 1986) was a German heavyweight boxer. He won the gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. He was born in Elberfeld, which later became part of Wuppertal, where he died as well.

3. Wolfgang Behrendt (1936 - )

With an HPI of 41.88, Wolfgang Behrendt is the 3rd most famous German Boxer. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Wolfgang Behrendt (born 14 June 1936) was a bantamweight amateur boxer from East Germany, won the gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics for the United Team of Germany. He subsequently became the first Olympic champion for East Germany. He was born in Berlin.

4. Henry Maske (1964 - )

With an HPI of 40.52, Henry Maske is the 4th most famous German Boxer. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Henry Maske (German pronunciation: [ˈhɛnʁi ˈmaskə], ; born 6 January 1964) is a German former professional boxer and one of Germany's most popular sports figures. He held the IBF light heavyweight title from 1993 until 1996.

5. Sinan Şamil Sam (1974 - 2015)

With an HPI of 35.68, Sinan Şamil Sam is the 5th most famous German Boxer. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Sinan Şamil Sam (23 June 1974 – 30 October 2015) was a Turkish heavyweight professional boxer of Azerbaijani origin. As a professional boxer, Sam won the EBU, WBC international and WBC Mediterranean titles in the heavyweight division. According to his former managers, Sam died after battling liver and kidney failure.

6. Felix Sturm (1979 - )

With an HPI of 35.03, Felix Sturm is the 6th most famous German Boxer. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Adnan Ćatić (born 31 January 1979), known as Felix Sturm, is a Bosnian-German professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, at middleweight and super-middleweight. As an amateur, he won a gold medal at the 2000 European Championships in the light-middleweight division.

Pantheon has 8 people classified as boxers born between 1905 and 1979. Of these 8, 5 (62.50%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living boxers include Wolfgang Behrendt, Henry Maske, and Felix Sturm. The most famous deceased boxers include Max Schmeling, Herbert Runge, and Sinan Şamil Sam. As of April 2022, 3 new boxers have been added to Pantheon including Sinan Şamil Sam, Oktay Urkal, and Torsten May.