Boxing coach Michael Timm will leave his long term employer, Universum Boxing-Promotion on the first of August. The 50-year-old will join the German Boxing Association (DBV) at the Olympic Training center in Schwerin, where he will become the head coach from the first of August. Timm, who lives in Schwerin with his wife, signed a free contract until the end of the year. However he got also offered a permanent 4-year contract from the first of January 2013 as the head coach of the national base.
Universum boss Waldemar Kluch regrets Timm’s decision, but will not put any obstacles in his way. “We have accepted his decision and will let him go to his home city. We agreed to an early cancellation of his contract. He did a great job and the move to amateur boxing will be of big help for German boxing. We wish him all the best,” said Kluch.
In his 15-year-long career at Universum he has made many boxers to world champions. Jürgen Brähmer, Ina Menzer, Ruslan Chagaev, and Felix Sturm are only a few names. Timm has already been the head coach at Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, before joining professional boxing in 1997 under former promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl. It has not been an easy decision for Timm, who won the prominent German “Chemie Cup” twice in his short boxing career.
“I am extremely attached to my boxers and Universum, but it’s time for a change. The offer is really good. Such an offer would have been attractive in the heydays of Universum,” says Timm. His decision is mainly based on private reasons: “I am 50 years old now and I have a permanent job in front of my doorsteps. Commuting between Schwerin and Hamburg has become very stressful for me. I have always stressed that returning to the amateur has always been a tempting option for me. Anyways, I will never forget what a good time I had at Universum.” Timm will still be coaching the Universum boxers until the upcoming event in September. However he is not allowed in fighting corner by the laws of the German amateur boxing federation.
Timm’s protégés will be supervised by the Co-coach Artur Grigorian, until a new head coach will be presented. Waldemar Kluch is in negotiations with three different coaches at the moment. “We are having promising talks and will be able to present his successor soon. Most probably it will be an American coach,” says Kluch.
