Markus Beyer passes away at 47

By Boxing News - 12/04/2018 - Comments

Image: Markus Beyer passes away at 47

By Eric Thomas: Former WBC 168 lb champion Marcus Beyer passed away on Monday at age 47-years-old from an unspecified cause in Berlin, Germany. The illness that Beyer suffered was said to be short but severe.

During his 12-year pro career, Beyer held the WBC super middleweight title on three separate occasions. The southpaw Beyer never held onto the WBC title for long, but he was able to always come back to capture it again. Beyer lost his WBC super middleweight title for the third and final time in October 2006 in getting stopped in the 3rd round by a young Mikkel Kessler. Beyer was unable to deal with the hard hitting Kessler in that fight.

Beyer fought in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics for Germany. He finished his long amateur career with a 235-39 record. Besides fight in the Olympics twice, Beyer also captured a bronze medal at the 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships as well as a silver medal in the the 1996 European Amateur Boxing Championships.

After turning pro after a long amateur career, Beyer moved swiftly through the pro ranks and captured the World Boxing Council super middleweight title in April 2003 in beating Eric Lucas by a controversial 12 round split decision in a close fight. A lot of boxing fans thought that Beyer lost that fight. Beyer then successfully defended his WBC super middleweight title twice in beating Danny Green and Andre Thysse before losing the title to Italian fighter Cristian Sanavia by a 12 round split decision in April 2004.

Beyer came back and defeated Senavia by a 6th round knockout four months later in October 2004. That fight saw Beyer at his best, putting the pressure on Sanavia and wearing him down slowly. Beyer then successfully defended his WBC title four more times in beating Yoshinori Nishizawa, Danny Green in a rematch, Yoshinori Nishizawa and Alberto Colajanni.

In October 1999, Beyer won the WBC super middleweight title for the first time in beating champion Richie Woodall by a 12 round unanimous decision. Beyer defended the WBC belt successfully once in beating Leif Keiski by 7th round knockout in January 2000. In Beyer’s next defense, he was stopped in the 12th round by Glenn Catley.

Beyer’s best wins of his career came against these fighters:

– Richie Woodall

– Danny Green

– Leif Keiski

– Omar Sheika

Beyer, who had been retired from boxing since victory over Murad Makhmudov in 2008, was one of the best fighters in Germany from 2000 to 2006.

After retiring from boxing in 2008, Beyer worked as a commentator in Germany for the sport.

“I cannot describe my feelings with words,” said trainer Ulli Wegner said to skysports.com. “Everybody knows that he was my favorite athlete…At the moment I feel like someone hit me in the gut. I have to process all that first.”

Boxing News 24 will miss Beyer. He was a great fighter.