Boxing Looks Back on Former German Heavyweight Champion, Reiner Hartmann
By Roger T. Tubajiki
Since the late German former World Heavyweight Champion, Max Schmeling, captured the title in 1930, the expectations have been to see another German heavyweight contender capture the belt, but none of the attempts made so far at the belt in the heavyweight division was successful, including the path followed by a young man that may have been able to achieve this goal.
In the city of Frankfurt, in Germany, began the boxing career of a tall young man with a powerful physique that raised, at that time, the growing expectation of him becoming not only a successful European heavyweight boxer, but also another German world champion in the heavyweight class. The expectations were so high that the building of such a boxing prospect by the legendary Trainer, Angelo Dundee, was an option, which was chosen to lead to the realization of the goal set.
Leaving Germany, after winning the German Heavyweight Amateur Title, in 1979, to improve his boxing in Miami, FL was the late German heavyweight contender, Reiner Hartmann, 16-6-3, 11 KO’s. He left his amateur club, CSC Frankfurt, which was where he was trained by Olaf Rausch. It was because many who followed his amateur career believed that he had enormous potential to reach the top of the heavyweight division. For that, he received all the professional support from his local people to start his boxing professional career in the US, led by the legendary boxing Trainer, Angelo Dundee
In order to talk about Reiner’s boxing career, RSR caught up with Olaf Rausch, who also worked in the professional boxing career of Reiner. Olaf Rausch also worked with former Germany heavyweight and title challenger, Willi Fischer, who may be best known for his TKO loss in the second round to the 2-Time WBO Heavyweight Champion, Herbie Hide.
It was in December of the year 1980 that Reiner Hartmann made his pro debut and scored a record of, 10-1-1, 7 KO’s, in his first 12 bouts in the U.S. The winning streak realized in the U.S. appeared to be very satisfactory to return home for the German Heavyweight Title bout, which took place in September of 1982, in Frankfurt, Germany.
“For that fight, Reiner was happy to return to his home town where he enjoyed the home crowd, but two weeks intensive training was not enough to control that fight. The bout was engaged and Reiner suffered from a bad cut during the bout, which caused the referee, in round eight, to stop the fight in favor of the defending Champion, Bernd August,” said Olaf Rausch, when asked about Reiner’s loss. “The loss seemed not to be a subject of disappointment; it was a severe cut,” added Rausch.
Back to the U.S., where he went on scoring another win over Dorcey Gaymon, Reiner made another trip back to Germany to continue his winning series, including the second attempt at the German Heavyweight Title in the rematch bout against the same Bernd August in November, 1983.
“Reiner was here about two months prior to the rematch fight against August, which helped us with the intensive training in preparation of that fight, and I, as the substitute trainer for Angelo Dundee, had a permanent phone contact with Angelo to prepare Reiner for his fights in Germany. Angelo had to join him days close to the fights. With enough time of intensive training, Reiner stepped into the ring in a very good shape and did what he was expected to do, knocking Bernd August out in round 6 and became the Germany Heavyweight Champion with that win. I remember it was a great joy and we really had a lot of fun that evening,” said Rausch of Reiner’s successful rematch.
The first goal was achieved and the road to the top of the division appeared to be more promising when Reiner returned again to the US to score another win before going back to Germany, where he defended his title via a fifth-round TKO win over Claus Parge in 1984. Curiously, contrary to what was expected, a losing streak began. Reiner lost four fights of his five last bouts, including the loss of his title to Charly Graf in 1985. The rematch against the same Charly Graf, the defending Champion, months later ended with a draw.
Despite Reiner’s losing streak, the potential to see him recover from those losses and stick to the goal set for his career remained stuck.
“When Reiner was completely focused in training, he also used to give good fights. He had a great jab and he gave the best of himself in the ring. That was what was recognized in Reiner. And Reiner got another chance to challenge Thomas Classen for the German Heavyweight Title fight. The bout was supposed to take place in 1986, but for particular reasons, he was obliged to stop the training preparation that he began already in Frankfurt, in order to return to the U.S. That decision was professionally criticized by people that supported his boxing career. They wanted him to stay and prepare for that fight accordingly, but Reiner’s failure to take that fight and to return to the U.S. led the people who managed him to believe that it wasn’t worth giving it a go. They broke with Reiner Hartmann. That was how the path ended, and why he didn’t make it to his goal.”
Reiner Hartmann had that privilege to be trained by a very successful trainer. He had people around him who gave him that opportunity to run a successful boxing career that many boxers out there would like to have. When asked why Reiner didn’t make it, Rausch responded: “I have been involved in amateur boxing since about 40 years. I trained Reiner in his professional career. This sport is very hard, and to be very successful in it, you must show that will. You must train and train and train. You must spend more time in the gym working hard and your mind must be relaxed. To be a champion in boxing must come from your personal determination. In Frankfurt, we worked day in day out with Reiner. We find for him tough sparring partners, but things just never worked the way they were supposed to work.”
“While involved in boxing, training in Miami at Dundee’s famous Gym, Reiner fell in love with Dundee’s daughter, Jacqueline, who became his wife later. The boxing career of Reiner was between Germany and the U.S., but he was very happy to fight in Germany were he was more popular, especially in Frankfurt,” said Rausch.
After losing his last bout in1985, Reiner ended his boxing career and became a businessman. He settled in Fort Lauderdale, where he enjoyed his life along with his wife and two daughters. The business seemed to work, but Reiner and Jacqueline eventually separated. When Asked about Jacqueline, Rausch stated: “Jackie was a nice woman. And, Reiner was deeply in love with her. When Jacqueline came to Germany two or three times, we understood each other well, although I don’t speak English that much.”
After his separation with her, Reiner built another relationship with his new girlfriend, but his life took a turn for the worse when Reiner Hartmann, born on April, 18, 1958, took his own life by shooting himself on April, 17, 2003. It was shortly before the celebration of his 45th birthday. “It was a pity that Reiner ended his life. He was a good boy. He liked nice cars, didn’t have much to do with drinking heavily when he was coming to Germany. What was Reiner’s private life in America remained also private. We were just shocked when I heard from Lothar Hartmann, Reiner’s father, that Reiner committed suicide,” commented Rausch on Reiner’s death.
May God bless his soul!
Division: Heavyweight
Professional Record: 16-6-3, 11 KO’s
Date Opponent Location Result
1980-12-16 Lester Crosby Miami Beach, US W KO 1
1981-02-17 Charles Allen Miami Beach, US W PTS 6
1981-04-07 Carl Baker Miami Beach, US W TKO 2
1981-04-22 Ervin Blye West Palm Beach, US W KO 3
1981-06-22 Ervin Blye Miami Beach, US D PTS 4
1981-07-10 Dorcey Gaymon West Palm Beach, US L UD 4
1981-08-25 Ron Harry Fort Lauderdale, US W KO 2
1981-09-30 Bobby Dade Fort Lauderdale, US W TKO 1
1981-10-31 LeRoy Broaders Fort Lauderdale, US W PTS 6
1981-12-18 Luis A Acosta Miami Beach, US W TKO 8
1982-06-23 Joe Tank Mooney Fort Lauderdale, US W KO 2
1982-07-17 Henry Patterson West Palm Beach, US W PTS 10
1982-09-24 Bernd August Frankfurt, DE L TKO 8
Germany BDB Heavyweight Title
1983-02-16 Dorcey Gaymon Fort Lauderdale, US W PTS 8
1983-06-03 George Butzbach Frankfurt, DE W TKO 7
1983-07-09 Werner Pelz Frankfurt, DE W TKO 4
1983-10-07 Felipe Rodriguez Frankfurt, DE D PTS 8
1983-11-05 Bernd August Mannheim, DE W KO 6
Germany BDB Heavyweight Title
1984-02-10 Rudy Gauwe Frankfurt, DE W PTS 8
1984-05-11 Claus Parge Stuttgart, DE W TKO 5
Germany BDB Heavyweight Title
1984-12-22 Mike Perkins Hollywood, US L TKO 8
1985-03-09 Charly Graf Düsseldorf, DE L TKO 7
Germany BDB Heavyweight Title
1985-04-26 Damiens Marignan Frankfurt, DE L PTS 8
1985-06-01 Charly Graf Mannheim, DE D PTS 10
Germany BDB Heavyweight Title
1985-11-01 Steffen Tangstad Copenhagen, DK L KO 7