Enrico Kölling (born 27 February 1990), occasionally spelled Koelling or Kolling, is a German professional boxer who challenged for the IBF light-heavyweight title in 2017.

Amateur career

Youth Enrico Kölling started boxing at the age of 8. An early step in his career was winning the gold medal at the German Junior National Championships at the age of 17, in Altentreptow in 2007, as he defeated Alexander Onozke and Dominik Bösel in the middle weight division.

Kölling first achieved success at international level in July 2007, when he grasped the bronze medal following his defeat in the middle weight (75 kg) semi final at the 2007 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Sambor, Serbia; he lost his semifinal to Nikola Jovanovic, the only boxer from the host nation to win a title at the event. In the following year, 2008, Kölling competed at the Youth World Amateur Boxing Championships, in which a total of 359 fighters from 68 different countries competed in Guadalajara, Mexico. After beating four of his opponents, Kölling failed to get the gold medal in the middle weight final, which was scored 4:2 in favour of Rey Eduardo Recio from Cuba.

Senior After he moved up a weight division, at the age of 19, Kölling became the German National champion at light heavyweight (81 kg), beating Eugen Schellenberg, Dennis Gördel and Benjamin Schmidt.

In May 2011, Kölling secured his spot in the Germany National team to take part at the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan between 16 September 2011 to 1 October, following his victory against his compatriot Tyron Zeuge in the Round Robin Team Tournament in Germany. Kölling entered into the World Championship as the No.4 seeded athlete in the 81 kg. division, gaining a bye in first round. He beat Erdenebayar Sandagsuren of Mongolia in the second round on points, before he was defeated by the eventual winner Julio César la Cruz after 3 rounds, 8–6 on points. Through his performance at this competition he qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

At the 2012 Olympics (results) he beat Christian Donfack Adjoufack from Cameroon then lost to Algerian Abdelhafid Benchabla 9–12.

World Series of Boxing From 2010 onwards Kölling participated in the AIBA organised "World Series of Boxing". In the 2010 series, he was part of the "Istanbulls" team. In this competition, he competed in the 85 kg weight division (a weight division created for the World Series of Boxing), winning 4 fights out of 5.

In 2011, he switched teams to compete for the "Leipzig Leopards". In the second season, he won 3 fights.

Professional career After the 2012 Summer Olympics, Kölling switched to the professional ranks. In the same year, he made his professional debut.

In 2013, he won all 8 of his professional fights, including his first professional fight outside Germany, in London at the O2 Arena.

Koelling vs. Aduashvili He won his first professional title in 2014, beating Paata Aduashvili to win the vacant WBO Youth Light Heavyweight Title.

In the same year, he fought in 7 more fights, winning all of them. One of these fights lead to Kölling winning his first senior professional title, when he beat French boxer Patrick Bois to win the WBA intercontinental title in June 2014. He defended his title against Giuseppe Brischetto in August 2014, before losing it to Mirco Ricci in February 2015. The loss to Ricci was his first defeat in 16 professional fights. In 2014 he competed in another 4 fights, winning all of them.

In April 2016, he won the vacant WBA intercontinental title by defeating the Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Cherviak. He defended his title in October 2016 against South African Ryno Liebenberg. The return fight against Liebenberg in February 2017, held at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, was Kölling's first match outside of Germany since 2013. The second victory over Liebenberg meant that Kölling had won 23 professional fights out of 24.

Koelling vs. Beterbiev Following on from this, he fought Artur Beterbiev at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California for the vacant IBF World Light-Heavyweight title. Beterbiev was ranked #2 by the IBF at the time, while Koelling was ranked at #3. Beterbiev won the fight in the 12th round by knock out.

2018 began with a win for Kölling, beating fellow German Robert Müller with a TKO in January. He then beat Giorgi Beroshvili by knock out in March 2018. In June 2018, he beat the Latvian Andrejs Pokumeiko.

Koelling vs. Boesel In recognition of his performances, he fought Dominic Bösel for the EBU European Light Heavyweight title. Kölling lost to Bösel in a points decision, 111–118, 113-116 and 113–115 on the scorecards.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes34Win29-5 Ali IsmayilovTKO101 Jul 2023 33Loss28-5 Michał CieślakTKO1 (10), 1 Oct 2022 32Win28–4 Leon HarthMD1012 Nov 2021 31Win27–4 Slavisa SimeunovicRTD2 (8), 21 May 2021 30Loss26–4 Leon BunnUD122 Nov 2019 29Loss26–3 Dominic BoeselUD1227 Oct 2018 28Win26–2 Andrejs PokumeikoUD89 Jun 2018 27Win25–2 Giorgi BeroshviliKO1 (8), 3 Mar 2018 26Win24–2 Robert MuellerTKO2 (6), 20 Jan 2018 25Loss23–2 Artur BeterbievKO12 (12), 11 Nov 2017 24Win23–1 Ryno LiebenbergUD10 4 Feb 2017 23Win22–1 Ryno Liebenberg121 Oct 2016 22Win21–1 Oleksandr CherviakUD129 Apr 2016 21Win20–1 Serhiy DemchenkoUD85 Dec 2015 20Win19–1 Karel HorejsekUD817 Oct 2015 19Win18–1 Vasyl KondorUD818 Jul 2015 18Win17–1 Andrej MaurerUD825 Apr 2015 17Loss16–1 Mirco RicciUD1221 Feb 2015 16Win16–0 Daniel RegiTKO6 (8), 27 Sep 2014 15Win15–0 Giuseppe BrischettoRTD7 (12), 30 Aug 2014 14Win14–0 Patrick BoisUD127 Jun 2014 13Win13–0 Mirzet BajrektarevicUD85 Apr 2014 12Win12–0 Paata AduashviliTKO3 (10), 25 Jan 2014 11Win11–0 Tomas AdamekUD813 Dec 2013 10Win10–0 Gyorgy Marosi3 (8), 26 Oct 2013 9Win9–0 Haris Causevic3 (8), 24 Aug 2013 8Win8–0 Armin Dollinger4 (8), 8 Jun 2013 7Win7–0 Vygaudas Laurinkus425 May 2013 6Win6–0 Leo TchoulaUD827 Apr 2013 5Win5–0 Josef ObesloUD623 Mar 2013 4Win4–0 Egidijus KakstysUD62 Feb 2013 3Win3–0 Attila BaranUD615 Dec 2012 2Win2–0 Ivan MaslovUD63 Nov 2012 1Win1–0 Pablo Sosa629 Sep 2012

Personal life Kölling is interested in football and supports Hertha Berlin.

See also 2008 Youth World Amateur Boxing Championships 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships

References

External links

Enrico Koelling - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live