{"id":693857,"date":"2026-05-25T16:35:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/693857\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T16:35:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:35:20","slug":"axel-schulz-botha-doping-scandal-hurt-more-than-foreman-rematch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/693857\/","title":{"rendered":"Axel Schulz: Botha doping scandal hurt more than Foreman rematch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former German heavyweight<\/a> Axel Schulz says losing to a steroid cheat hurt worse than missing out on a George Foreman<\/a> rematch that would have paid him millions.<\/p>\n

Schulz dropped a tight majority decision to Foreman at the MGM Grand in 1995, a fight that drew nearly 4 million viewers in Germany. The IBF ordered a rematch, but Foreman vacated the belt instead. Schulz walked away with about $350,000 and no second shot at a payday that would have dwarfed that sum.<\/p>\n

Botha doping case sparked anti-doping push in boxing<\/p>\n

But according to BoxingScene, it was his next fight that still rankles. Schulz faced South African Francois Botha for the vacant IBF title in Stuttgart later that year, a bout that attracted 18.03 million German TV viewers and remains the most-watched boxing event in the country’s history. Botha won a controversial split decision, then tested positive for steroids and was stripped. Schulz never got his rematch.<\/p>\n

“No, not at all,” Schulz told BoxingScene when asked if he remains angry about Foreman. “But I was upset about Botha. I would have liked to have that again. I was more upset by that one than I was fighting Foreman again.” He added that the doping scandal became a catalyst for increased anti-doping measures across the sport. “The motivation behind today’s doping plan is thanks to that particular event,” he said.<\/p>\n

Schulz fought Michael Moorer<\/a> for the vacant title in his third consecutive IBF shot and lost another split decision. Now 57, he works as a boxing analyst and runs a food and beverage company that sells 31 licensed products, including barbecue sauce and gin, in German supermarkets.<\/p>\n

Source: boxingscene.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former German heavyweight Axel Schulz says losing to a steroid cheat hurt worse than missing out on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-693857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}