Who is Rico Mueller?
Facts you need to know about Anthony Fowler’s next opponent
WBA International super-welterweight champion Anthony Fowler (14-1, 11KOs) will battle world title contender Rico Mueller (28-3-1, 19KOs) on July 31 at the Matchroom Boxing HQ in Brentwood Essex.
The 147-pounders will be the third fight on the show, which sees the return of Matchroom’s hugely successful ‘Fight Camp’ series.
Not much is known about the German visitor, so BBN found out some little-known facts right here:
Early Life
Born on June 6, 1988, Rico Norbert Mueller is currently 33-years-old. He was born and raised in Eberswalde, a major town in German state of Brandenburg, north west Germany.
Team Rico
In 2016, Rico signed with Greg Cohen Promotions just before his clash with Jeff Horn, with a view to moving to world championship level. The plan was to defeat Horn to land a world title shot against either Kell Brook or Errol Spence Jr.
He is trained by former pro boxer and world title contender, Michel Trabant, who ended his career with a 52-4-1 record, winning European; EBU-EU; WBO Inter-Continental welterweight titles.
Turning Pro
He won his pro debut on June 23, 2007, with a third round KO over Peruvian Marcel Salgado, who was 0-1 at the time and went on to lose all 20 pro bouts and was stopped in 17 of them!
Despite drawing his second pro bout, he reached 10 fights unbeaten until he was handily defeated on points over six rounds by Lukasz Maciec (9-1 at the time), who went on register a 27-3-1 record.
Champion
In his 13th pro fight, Rico won the IBO World Youth welterweight title. He was the first ever winner of the new belt in 2011, Deniz lbay (who was most recently defeated by Lewis Crocker) was the next holder, followed by Australian Kyron Dryden.
Rico then claimed the IBO Inter-Continental welterweight title in his 15th fight, which he held for almost three years, defending it successfully on three occasions.
Opponents
His 33 opponents, including Fowler, have a combined record of 449-303-24.
Reverses
Mueller has lost three times. His first defeat was to 9-1 Lukasz Maciec, who went on to challenge unsuccessfully for the EBU-EU welterweight title.
His second loss was to Australian hero Jeff Horn (TKO 9) in Queensland, who famously went on to defeat Manny Pacquiao, just two fights on from beating Mueller. The IBF #2 slot was up for the grabs for the winner. Mueller was enjoying a six year unbeaten run before falling to 'The Hornet'.
His third and latest defeat was to Jeremias Ponce, who just recently upset Lewis Ritson with a 10th round TKO win in Newcastle last month (June 2021). Now 28-0, the Argentinian defeated Mueller by unanimous decision to win the vacant IBO World super-lightweight title in September 2019.
No Contests
In August last year, Mueller attempted to bounce back from his world title defeat to Ponce with a victory over former European welterweight champion Rafal Jackiewicz (51-28-3, 22KOs), but it all went a bit wrong!
The result was announced as a mixed decision win for Jackiewicz, with scores of 58-56 twice and 57-57, which Team Mueller later appealed as they were very upset with the scoring of the six-round fight. It was viewed back by the German Federation (BDB) and changed to a no-decision; then it was reviewed and scored by five new judges, who reversed the decision to a unanimous decision for Mueller, with scores of 4x 58-56, and 59-56.
Away Days
The German has fought in five countries – 29 times in Germany; once in Poland; Luxembourg; Australia; and England.
Promoter
The boxer has twice promoted his own shows, held in a boxing gym, once in December 2013 and again in December 2020, both times in Berlin.
Rankings
Rico is fifth in the welterweight division in Germany by BoxRec and #41 by the IBO.
Form (Last 5 fights)
W-W-W-L-W
Stats
Age: 33
Debut: 23/06/2007
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 5’ 9”
Reach: 74”
Bouts: 32
Rounds: 151
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 19
KOs: 49.38%
Losses: 3
Losses by KO: 1
Draws: 1
No Contests: 0
Rico goes into the 10-round international contest against Fowler off the back of three successive wins, the last two coming by way of knockout. With double the fights as experience over Fowler as a world title contender, the German is bound to provide the Liverpudlian with a stern test.
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