Markus Beyer

Former East Berlin-based boxer Markus Beyer participated in the 1992 Barcelona and the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games. He qualified for the quarter-finals in 1996, as his best result. As an amateur, he won 235 out of 274 bouts. In 1988 Beyer won the East German flyweight amateur championships, and in 1993 and 1995, was German amateur champion in the light-middleweight division. In 1993 he participated in the World Amateur Championships, and reached the quarter-finals.

Beyer turned professional in 1996 shortly after the Atlanta Olympics, and in 1999 won the WBC super-middleweight title beating Richie Woodhall. He re-gained this title in 2003 by beating Canada’s Éric Lucas, having lost it to Britain’s Glenn Catley in 2000. Bayer won his third world title in 2004. He never returned to boxing after retiring, despite rumors that he would. Beyer died after a short and severe illness in 2018.