Henry Maske (, ; 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.

Amateur career

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1983-0510-021, Henry Maske, Manfred Wolke

Maske was born in

Treuenbrietzen Treuenbrietzen is a town in the States of Germany, Bundesland of Brandenburg, Germany. Geography The municipality Treuenbrietzen is situated 32 km northeast of Wittenberg and includes the localities * city of Treuenbrietzen with its agglome ...

Bezirk Potsdam The Bezirk Potsdam was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Potsdam. History The district was established, with the other 13, on 25 July 1952, substituting the old German states. After 3 October 1 ...

. He was an Olympic Gold medallist 1988 in Seoul (middleweight) for East Germany. His results were:

Olympic results

Below is the record of Henry Maske, an East German middleweight boxer who competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics: *Round of 64: bye *Round of 32: Defeated Helman Palije (Malawi) by decision, 5–0 *Round of 16: Defeated Sello Mojela (Lesotho) by walkover *Quarterfinal: Defeated Michele Mastrodonato (Italy) by decision, 5–0 *Semifinal: Defeated Chris Sande (Kenya) by decision, 5–0 *Final: Defeated Egerton Marcus (Canada) by decision, 5–0 (won gold medal) Maske won the 1989 World Amateur Boxing Championships in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

and the silver medal at the 1986 World Amateur Boxing Championships in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

. His toughest opponents were Cubans, particularly Angel Espinosa, whom he met three times in 1987–1988, losing all three by a 0–5 unanimous decision, and luckily for him, Maske didn't met Espinosa at Seoul as Cuba boycotted the 1988 Olympics.

Professional career

During his career, Maske was a five-time boxing champion of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. After reunification in 1990, he turned professional, and became the IBF world title holder in the light heavyweight category on 20 March 1993. Maske defended his title ten times between 1993 and 1996. He retired in 1996 after suffering a split decision loss at the hands of

Virgil Hill Virgil Eugene Hill (born January 18, 1964) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2007, and in 2015. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBA light heavyweight title twice, from 1987 to 1997; the IBF a ...

. In 2007, he won in a rematch.Brichzi, Dirk
"Maske-Erfolg gegen Hill: Seelenfrieden für den Gentleman"
Spiegel.de; accessed 1 April 2007.

Post-boxing life

Max Schmeling Denkmal Maske Eggers Klitschko

As of 2010, Maske owns ten

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

franchises in Germany. Maske works as a boxing commentator for the first German television channel (ARD).

Comeback

After an 11-year retirement, he avenged his only defeat as a professional against

. The fight was held on 31 March 2007, in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

; Maske won by unanimous decision after 12 rounds.

Professional boxing record

Television viewership

Germany

Acting

Maske played the lead role in the 2010 biopic '' Max Schmeling'', for which he took several months of acting lessons. However, critique were largely negative on his performance in the film.

References

External links

Official webpage
accessed 1 January 2016. *
Profile
Leverkusen.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Maske, Henry 1964 births Living people People from Treuenbrietzen People from Bezirk Potsdam German male boxers Sportspeople from Brandenburg Light-heavyweight boxers German male film actors National People's Army military athletes Olympic boxers of East Germany Boxers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in boxing Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists World light-heavyweight boxing champions International Boxing Federation champions Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia