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UPDATE: A TRIBUTE TO
OLAF SCHROEDER, MAY HE REST IN
PEACE! (APRIL 23, 2019)
Since he refuses to reveal his
birth-date, only
reluctantly
acknowledging it was “sometime
during the last millennium”,
lets just say that Olaf
Schroeder,
is no longer a “spring chicken”,
and neither is he quite an “old
geezer” yet.
But,
most likely in his fifties,
he has
been
in professional boxing the
majority of his life, and
worked in
just about
every capacity
possibly
in the business,
outside the ring.
He is what many would call a
true Boxing Man, with all the
quirks that comes with it.
A
banker by trade, Olaf was born
and raised in Bielefeld, along
with
a
younger sister,
his only sibling.
Both parents were in the
butchers trade, which is why, he
says, “it took
me
so long to understand that
animals are not created to be
slaughtered and have a right to
live”.
He never boxed competitively
himself, something he claims was
probably a good choice, but like
so many others from his
generation he gained a keen
interest in the sport due to
Muhammad Ali.
The interest obviously later
developed into much more, and
eventually a career.
“I
started out writing articles
about boxing for our local
newspaper at a young age. Doing
that, I met many people from the
industry, and at some point I
began working with some of these
people, organizing and writing
press releases.”
“Suddenly
I found myself doing
match-making as well,
in a time where the tools were
just a land-line phone and the
huge record-books which
youngsters in the game today
would not have a clue about."
“That
lead me to
managing boxers, from journeymen
to champions, and I even
promoted a few shows over the
years."
On top of that Schroeder also
developed into a very good and
respected cut-man, as well as a
ring-announcer
on big shows in Germany. But
those two gigs came later on,
and not before he felt he had
paid his dues.
“At
the beginning, and for years,
I followed a lot of promoters
and managers very closely,
trying to understand why they
make certain fights, how they
structure their shows, what they
do as managers and so on”,
Schroeder explains.
“I
really studied all these things,
which is something nobody does
anymore, it seems. I didn't
really have a mentor as such,
but I had endless conversations
with so many boxing people, and
tried to learn different aspects
from people who were great at
their jobs.”
Schroeder didn't just learn from
people on the German boxing
scene. While he is not
one
comfortable name-dropping, and
actually more than once tried to
get out of providing info and
quotes for this article, he
gained a lot of knowledge from
some of the best the world has
ever seen.
“Dennie
Mancini and Brendan Ingle mainly
taught me about the science that
is working as a cut-man, and
with Johnny Bos I talked many
nights, for ours on end, about
the art of matchmaking.”
“Probably
there are a few more who allowed
me to pick up on their
knowledge, but you don't find
better guys than Dennie and
Brendan, and Johnny knew more
about matchmaking than anyone I
ever met.”
As
a matchmaker, Schroeder has
worked with all the major
promoters in the Europe, and in
the managing field he handled
world class boxers such as Firat
Arslan, Raymond Joval, Mihaly
Kotai and Attila Kovacs, whom
all went on to win world titles.
In the beginning, he juggled his
banking work with his growing
activities in boxing, but that
all came to an end in 1990:
“At
that time, the bank-manager
wanted to force me to stop my
work in boxing, because back
then banking had a clean
reputation, while boxing was
“the red light district of
sports”. Ironically, nowadays
its more or less the other way
around.”
“Anyway,
I thought about it for a minute,
and then walked out of banking
right then and there, and never
looked back. Boxing instantly
became my only occupation.”
What
followed was thousands upon
thousands of kilometers on
plains, trains and automobiles
across the world, traveling to
shows he was either the
matchmaker for or had boxers he
managed fighting on.
Countless promoters over the
years have benefited from his
experience and know-how.
In
2009, Olaf joined forces
with a group of other
experienced and respected
boxing-people to reform the
World Boxing Federation (WBF),
and from the very beginning he
has been one of the main
driving-forces behind the
progress of the WBF.
Schroeder also runs a cut-man
course, and lives in Spenge just
outside of Bielefeld with wife
Susi, teenage daughter Ranee,
who in 2017 became the youngest
boxing promoter in history at
only fifteen, and
family-dog
Raja...a
Boxer!
He would never say so himself,
but quite a few people over the
years have received a break from
Olaf, helping them get into the
boxing business, including the
writer of this article.
And if you are his friend, you
can count on him doing all he
can to help you, if required.
Olaf claims he looks forward to
retiring,
which is probably
to be expected from
someone who keeps his birthday a
secret, but, when he does
retire, boxing will be one true
boxing-man poorer.
Quite a few, including the
writer of this article, hopes he
wont retire before he IS an “old
geezer”…
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