40 and out – Husarik retires a winner!

21.07 - One day after his 39th birthday, Ladislav Husarik, the long-serving Czech journeyman who for one decade tested almost every up-and-coming European heavyweight, brought the curtains down on his remarkable career by scoring a rare win in his 40th and final professional fight last Saturday in Berlin.

The fight, staged by his career-long manager Olaf Schroeder of Germany’s Fight Production as a farewell-present on an IFCO Box-Promotion show, was the first in which the former amateur world bronze medalist was a prohibitive favourite, what with his opponent being Slovakia’s Peter Simko, owner of one of Europe’s worst records. Despite the friendly nature of the event though, Husarik proceeded to clearly outbox and outpunch Simko over four rounds for only his seventh win (one draw). After the decision was announced, Husarik was honored in the ring for his long service to boxing and in appreciation of his achievements by promoter Eva Rolle and manager Schroeder, who had a belt made for Husarik especially for this occasion. When all was said and done, the fighters’ wife and teenaged daughter Adelka climbed into the ring to take permanent hold of their husband and father and lead him out of the ring for the final time and into retirement. It was a moving moment.

“From all my losses, probably half of them were wins in reality, but I have no regrets whatsoever. It is just sad for me that my father died aged only 41 after a nothing kidney stone operation when I was just boxing amateur for a year. Unfortunately, he did not live to witness all my successes in the amateurs and my professional career, which I’m still proud of,” said Husarik, before strolling into the night for a walk in the park with Schroeder and their families to round off a memorable evening.

In the other fights on the small card held at the IFCO gym, lightheavyweight Robert Rolle, son of promoter Eva, had his first fight ever (amateur or pro) and successfully debuted with a first-round bodypunch knockout over Stan Cermak. Poland’s cruiserweight hope Wlodek Kopec won his fifth pro fight in a row (all inside the distance) by TKO 1 over Anton Lascek and in a real small-hall classic that had the fans screaming on their feet, Riccardo Grassmann outfought Pawel Drogowski at supermiddleweight for an exiting 6-round decision.

PHOTOS: Outboxing Peter Simko in his final ring appearance, Ladislav Husarik celebrates the win in his farewell fight