Adolf Heuser

Adolf Heuser (3 October 1907 – 19 November 1988) was a German boxer, who was the champion of Germany and Europe at both light heavyweight and heavyweight, and International Boxing Union (IBU) world champion at light heavyweight.

Career Born in Bonn to a bricklayer father, Heuser was one of sixteen children. In November 1930 he beat Dutch champion Piet Brand, and in January 1931 challenged for Ernst Pistulla's German light heavyweight title, the fight ending in a draw. Over the next three years, Heuser beat Hans Schönrath and Arno Kölblin, his only defeats in this period in over thirty fights coming at the hands of Merlo Preciso and Karel Sys. He had been due to fight John Henry Lewis for the NYSAC world title, but the fight was cancelled after the NYSAC controversially stripped Lewis of the title. Instead, he made a successful defence of his European title against Preciso in September 1938.

He moved up to heavyweight and in March 1939 beat Heinz Lazek to become European heavyweight champion. Heuser was initially ordered to defend this European title against Italian champion Sante De Leo (who had previously accepted a challenge to face Lazek), which prompted the German authorities to threaten to withdraw from the IBU in protest, people at the Adolf-Hitler-Kampfbahn, Stuttgart, with the German and European titles at stake; Schmeling knocked him out in the first round.

In March 1940 he challenged Jean Kreitz for the German title; Kreitz was controversially declared the winner, but the fight was declared a no contest the next day. The two fought again for the title in September, this time with Kreitz stopping Heuser in the eighth round.

Heuser moved back up to heavyweight, and after losing to Walter Neusel, a draw with Lazek and a win over Kölblin led to a challenge for Lazek's German heavyweight title in February 1942; Heuser knocked Lazek out in the third round to become German champion once again. and although he never fought for a title again, he continued until February 1949, his final fight a loss to Helmut Janke, having only won one of his last twelve fights, subsequently retiring at the age of 41.