Although much has been written about boxers, members of the Roma community, the number of those who fought in the ring is not small at all. Many of them are still active in the ring, some have given up sports that inflict wounds and scars, and some have been denied careers by the horrors of war.
The most famous Roma boxers
Johann Wilhelm Trollmann
Eight decades ago, Johann Wilhelm Trollman dominated the ring in Germany. His fighting skills in the ring promised him a career, but the Nazis did not allow any Roma of Sinti descent to win below, by no means, even under the German flag.
Tyson Fury
There is almost no prestigious European and world boxing award that Tyson Fury has not won. He has won several WBA, IBO, WBO and IBF titles and has been the champion of many Irish, British, European, Commonwealth and world competitions. The boxer said he would move to the United States because of the unbearable discrimination he is experiencing in the UK. Then he said: "I am a Roma and that is it. I will always be Roma, I will never change.
Jakob Bamberger
He was a horse trader and conductor, but also a great boxer. Like many other successful Sinti in Germany, World War II left a scar on his life. A Holocaust survivor after the war, he became a prominent Roma and Sinti human rights activist.
Bamberger's boxing career in particular has been booming since 1933, but it did not last long. At the age of 23, he became a member of Germany's Olympic boxing team, but was soon expelled because, like many, he was declared a "non-Aryan race".
Billy Joe Saunders
Professional British boxer, Billy Joe Saunders, is the holder of the title of the World Boxing Organization from 2015 to 2018. From 2012 to 2015, Saunders was the champion of Europe, Great Britain and the Commonwealth in the middleweight category. He also competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but did not achieve significant success.
Domenico Spada is a professional Italian boxer of Roma origin, who fights in the middle category. He started boxing at the age of 13, and started his professional career at the age of 22.
Domenico Spada was the champion of Italy in the junior and senior class. He fought in 45 matches, of which he won 34. He fought several times for the biggest boxing award of the WBC (World Boxing Council), but won silver. In 2005, he won the prestigious IBF (International Boxing Federation) Boxing Award.
