Heinz Lazek (October 17, 1911 – July 26, 1986) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

. He fought 64 times between 1932 and 1950; winning 48 (21 by

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

), losing 8 and drawing 8. During his career Lazek won the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

title at

light heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

and

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

Professional career

Lazek made his professional debut in June 1932, winning a four-round

points decision A points decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking. Unlike normal decisions where there are three judges that agree on whic ...

against Sandor Kunstzler. He remained undefeated over the next three years. Although he fought the majority of his early bouts in his hometown of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, he also travelled to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

to compete. His undefeated streak was brought to an end in June 1935 when he lost to Adolf Witt over ten rounds. He won the light heavyweight title in September 1935 after the champion, Merlo Preciso, was disqualified in the thirteenth round. Following two successful defences of his title, against Rienus De Boer and Emilien Ollivon, Lazek was beaten by

Gustave Roth Gustave Roth (1909–1982) was a Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German ...

via a fifteen rounds points decision in September 1936. All four of his light heavyweight title fights took place in Vienna. Having remained undefeated over his next nine bouts, Lazek was able to challenge the EBU heavyweight champion,

Arno Kölblin Arno Kölblin (9 October 1911 – 19 December 1988)Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Koelblin's hometown, was awarded to Lazek after the champion was disqualified in the second round. Lazek returned to Vienna to successfully defend his title against Sante De Leo and

Walter Neusel Walter Neusel (November 25, 1907 – October 3, 1964) was a German heavyweight boxer. During his career he held the distinction of being recognized as German Heavyweight Champion. Statistical boxing website BoxRec rates Neusel as the sixth best ...

, both fifteen round points decisions, before a further defence in Berlin, where he beat

Karel Sys Karel Sys (14 February 1914 – 19 June 1990) was a Belgian boxer who having started his professional career at welterweight went on to become heavyweight champion of Europe on two occasions, winning the title in both 1943 and 1952. Career Sys m ...

over fifteen rounds. In March 1939 Lazek suffered a fifth round

loss against

Adolf Heuser Adolf Heuser (3 October 1907 – 19 November 1988)

, bringing his title reign to an end. Although Lazek never fought for a European championship again, he won the German BDB heavyweight title in November 1940 and successfully defended it once before losing for a second time to Heuser. After a further loss to Gustav Thiess in March 1942, Lazek did not fight again until April 1947. In his first fight after an inactive period of five years he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Olle Tandberg. Lazek fought for a final time in September 1950, losing via a second round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

to Jo Weidin.

References

1911 births 1986 deaths Sportspeople from Vienna Light-heavyweight boxers Heavyweight boxers Austrian male boxers European Boxing Union champions German male boxers {{Germany-boxing-bio-stub

Professional career

See also

References