Universum celebrates 25-year anniversary -

„King Artur“ Grigorian victorious in comeback!

25 years of boxing, 25 years of emotions = 25 years Universum Box-Promotion

Universum Box-Promotion celebrated its 25-year anniversary with a roaring, gala event at the famous Universum Gym in Hamburg. Among the ex-champs and current champs on hand to honor promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl were former champs Dariusz Michalczewski, Regina Halmich, Markus Bott, Michael Löwe as well as Felix Sturm, Ruslan Chagaev, Zsolt Erdei and Sergej Dzinziruk.

On February 24th 1984 Klaus-Peter Kohl promoted the first Universum boxing event at the Alsterdorfer Sporthalle in front of a crowd of 2000 with fighters such as Manfred Jassmann, Erwin Heiber, Andreas Prox and the Rocchigiani brothers Ralf and Graciano. The company has presented 274 fight cards during that span all over the world, and together with the partner stable spotlight boxing they have produced 23 world champions plus 9 female world champions in 25 years. Victories were celebrated but they also had to deal with defeats. These are enough reasons to honour this unique success story with a anniversary celebration on Februray 24th at the famous Universum Gym in Hamburg.

Former longtime WBO lightweight champion Artur Grigorian (38-1, 22 KOs), who reigned as world champion from 1996 to 2004, returned to the ring for the first time in nearly five years on February 24th. The 41-year-old “King Artur” defeated Kirkor Kirkorov (28-21, 6 KOs) over six rounds in his sensational comeback fight.

Ringcard girls for the fight were current world champions Ina Menzer and Alesia Graf, plus female legend “Boxing Queen” Regina Halmich.

Klaus-Peter Kohl: „“What a great evening, what a glittering celebration. I met so many old boxers and companions. Thank you for these beautiful moments. Now on to the next successful years with Universum!”

The previous day, the 64-year-old Kohl received another big honor. The founder of Europe’s biggest boxing promotional firm received a special award for his life’s work from the Hamburg State Sports Council. Halmich also spoke at the ceremony, praising and thanking her ex-boss. “What he demands from his boxers, he has always demanded of himself: Give everything! That’s what he did, and hopefully he will still do a very long time!” Klaus-Peter Kohl thanked the jury for this special award: “It’s an honor for me. I love this city. I feel at home and happy to live and work here. This award is a special honor for me.”

About 1000 invited guests attended the event, which was broadcast live on local TV station Hamburg 1.