On September 14, 2024, the 57-year-old Raab will compete against the 47-year-old in a final fight – “The Final Fight” at the PSD Bank Dome in Düsseldorf.
After just two hours, around 15,000 tickets for the event – with a price range between around 50 and 470 euros – were sold out. In Halmich’s opinion, the public enthusiasm is due to the fact that people are really longing for entertainment in the face of difficult times.
Boxing legend Regina Halmich
Boxing legend Regina Halmich, born in Karlsruhe in 1976, is a former German boxer and began judo, karate and kickboxing as a child. She received her training at the Karlsruhe Bulldog-GYM. Between 1995 and 2007, Halmich was the undefeated world champion of the WIBF, one of the leading boxing organizations in women’s boxing at junior flyweight and flyweight. She won 54 of her 56 professional fights.
Regina Halmich in the fight against Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer at the last world championship fight in Karlsruhe. (archive image) | Image: Progress Film-Verleih/Kai Wiehagen
Moderating legend Stefan Raab
Stefan Raab had a significant influence on late-night television in Germany in the 2000s. Born in Cologne in 1966, he began his career in the 1990s as a singer and presenter and television and music producer. From 1999 to 2015 he presented the comedy show “TV Total”, a mixture of comedy and talk show in the American late night style.
The show was unusual and wanted to present new types of entertainment – Raab kept coming up with new ideas. This included performances such as the fight with Halmich.
Entertainer Stefan Raab speaks in Munich. | Image: Matthias Balk/dpa/archive image
The first fight between Regina Halmich and Stefan Raab
On March 22, 2001, just 24 and flyweight boxing world champion, Halmich fought with the 34-year-old television producer and presenter Stefan Raab on his Pro 7 comedy show “TV Total”. The fight took place in the TV Total studio, in Cologne’s “Capitol” – the former Cologne cinema, which became known as the production site for the TV shows “The Harald Schmidt Show” and “TV Total”.
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A boxing ring was set up where the presenter’s table used to be. 7.65 million people watched live as Halmich took down the comedy star in five rounds – the moderator had no chance.
In the third round, Halmich gave him a bloody nose – but that same evening, Raab’s management declared that the nose was still intact.
But the next morning the media reported that Raab’s nose was broken. X-rays confirmed the injury. This wasn’t the first time for Raab – in 1997, the Frankfurt rapper Moses Pelham smashed Raab’s nose in an argument. At that time, Raab was unable to work for four weeks and received 10,000 marks in compensation.
The second fight between Regina Halmich and Stefan Raab: appearance in the tank
In addition to TV Total, Raab moderated the casting competition “SSDSGPS – Stefan sucht den Super-Grand-Prix-Star” for a few months at the end of 2003 and produced several songs for the film “(T)Raumschiff Surprise” by Michael (Bully) Herbig.
(archive image) | Image: Henning Kaiser/dpa
However, he had not forgotten the lost fight against Regina Halmich and still wanted revenge. That’s why he challenged Halmich to a second boxing match in 2007, which became a huge, hour-long television event with long reports, music contributions from Avril Lavigne and the Scissor Sisters and discussions with celebrities.
This time, however, the fight did not take place in the television studio, but in the sold-out Cologne Arena in front of 19,500 spectators. From there, the fight, which Raab announced as the “Return of the Killerplauze”, was televised and watched by 7.74 million. Stefan Raab was sure that he had better chances this time: “No more fun!” it was said and “Regina, I’ll turn off your lights,” he threatened before the fight.
On September 14th, Regina Halmich will get into the ring again against Stefan Raab. The former boxing world champion and the television presenter had already fought against each other in 2001 and 2007. (archive image) | Image: Gerald Matzka/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
But Halmich had other intentions – “I’m going to show Stefan for six rounds. It’s supposed to be long and painful. I don’t want to show any nice technique, I just want to really hit Stefan in the face,” she announced before the fight. At the beginning of the program, the camera flew over Cologne to the sounds of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”. Oliver Welke and Dariusz Michalczewski moderated.
The spectators had to wait a long time before the fight actually started. Aside from the music contributions, the preliminary program also included women’s boxing, interviews and videos. At around 11 p.m. the main fight finally came: “It’s Showtime!” announced the announcer Jimmy Lennon Junior. Halmich entered the arena first, floating down from the ceiling in a cage. Then Raab comes, dressed in a camouflage bathing suit with Playboy sunglasses, he drove into the hall in a tank. “The Killerplauze” was the name written on his pants.
Former boxing world champion Regina Halmich and television presenter Stefan Raab in the sold-out Cologne Arena in 2007. (archive image) | Image: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
In the first round, Regina Halmich took a few hits to the face and in the second round, Stefan Raab also took two hard hits. It wasn’t until the fifth round that it looked as if he could score points against the world champion. But Stefan Raab held on and he had the audience behind him. Sometimes he had to stagger backwards through the ring, but he didn’t give up. In the end, the TV Total presenter even survived six tough rounds of battle against the world champion, but Regina Halmich won – albeit with a points victory – by 60:53.
The third fight: “The Final Fight”
Now Stefan Raab wants a third fight against Halmich. She was initially surprised by Raab’s request, but then agreed. This is a comeback for both stars – Stefan Raab has retreated behind the scenes in recent years, while Regina Halmich hung up her boxing gloves 17 years ago.
Regina Halmich (archive photo)
Both parties must train again to prepare for the fight. Both are also 17 years older than last time, but have their good reputation as entertainers to defend. Why Stefan Raab is suddenly aiming for a comeback in the boxing ring? As always, he certainly has a feel for what the audience would like to see, and he’s right – there’s already a lot of media interest in the event.
How is he planning the event this time? Who knows – Stefan Raab was always unpredictable.
2024-04-15 04:03:48
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