Who is Christian Hammer?
WBC Silver Heavyweight Champion Joe Joyce (13-0, 12KO) will take on the experienced Christian Hammer (27-9, 17KO) at Wembley’s OVO Arena on Saturday, July 2, in a bout to be broadcast live on BT Sport.
After being out of the ring since he defeated Carlos Takam in July last year, following a broken wrist that sidelined him in the first half of this year, Joyce will have a tough test at Wembley against the German, now aged 34. As this will be his fourth fighting visit to the UK, BBN have compiled a list of facts about the 'Hamburg Hammer' below:
Christian Hammer was born Cristian Ciocan in Galati, Romania on September 27, 1986.
He is managed by Dietmar Poszwa and promoted by Erol Ceylan.
He is trained by Valentin Silaghi, who won a bronze medal for Romania at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.
He was the Romanian Amateur Boxing Champion in 2004, aged 18; but his biggest achievement was becoming World Junior Championships gold medallist in 2006, where he defeated Michael Hunter on his way to the finals in Morocco. The following year, in 2007, he won a bronze medal at the European Union Championships in Ireland.
In November 2008, in Germany, trained by Felix Paun, he lost is pro debut in the first round. After going back to his stool after round one, a shoulder injury prevented him from fighting on, so the distraught debutant was forced to retire.
As a pro, he has won the German International title in his 13th fight, and the WBO European three times.
He has defeated three unbeaten prospects: Irineu Beato Costa Junior (15-0); Erkan Teper (16-0); Michael Wallisch (19-0).
He has lost to two Britons, who were related to each other: Tyson Fury (23-0) and Hughie Fury (25-3).
What has 'JJJ' said of his opponent?
“I’ve known Christian Hammer for a while now. He fought tough opponents, it’s going to be a good and exciting fight. I’ve been out of the ring for a whole year, so it will be good to dust off my gloves and shake off the cobwebs. It’s going to be a great year.”
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