Germany’s youngest professional boxer, Leon Bauer (1-0, 1 KO) returns to the ring on July 18 at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle on the undercard of Arthur Abraham’s title defense against Robert Stieglitz.
Having got his professional career off to a flying start with the first-round destruction of Kristof Mate, the 16 year-old super middleweight can expect a tougher test in his second paid outing against Misa Nikolic (20-35-2, 9 KOs) – a 37 year-old, 57 fight-veteran, who is old enough to be Bauer’s father.
‘’We‘ve heard a lot about Leon and we’re excited to see how he performs on the big stage against such an experienced opponent,’’ said promoter Kalle Sauerland.
As an amateur, Bauer won both regional and national junior championships, and had been tipped to join Germany’s Olympic team hoping to qualify for Rio 2016. However the young fighter had plans of his own, and having received special dispensation earlier this year, begun his professional career with one goal in sight. ‘’I want to become world champion,’’ declared the teenage talent.
One man with no doubts in the Hatzenbühl-boxer’s ability is coach and father Bernd Bauer, who is expecting his son to impress: ‘’I would not send my son into the ring if I was not one hundred per cent convinced by his talents.’’
Bauer joins fellow teenage star Vincent Feigenbutz in action on July 18. The 19 year-old Feigenbutz, who also made his professional bow at the age of 16, will be challenging for Interim WBA World Super Middleweight title against Mauricio Reynoso.
Manager Rainer Gottwald, who is credited with discovering both fighters, is confident Bauer can follow in Feigenbutz’s footsteps and take the super middleweight division by storm. ‘’Leon is a boxing gem,’’ said Gottwald. ‘’He has everything needed to become a great champion!’’
Tickets for Abraham-Stieglitz IV featuring Feigenbutz’s Interim WBA World title challenge and Bauer’s second professional contest are on sale now and available by calling the GERRY WEBER Ticket Centre on +49 (0) 5201 81 80, or online via gerryweber-world.de and tickethall.de. All the action will be shown live and exclusive in Germany on SAT.1 and on Sky Sports in the UK.
