Stefan "Der Härt-Herzig (The Hard-Hearted)" Härtel

You may not have heard of Germany's arguably most technically sound and inarguably most amateur-pedigreed super middleweight (certainly more of a stylist than Abraham, for instance, and more decorated than any of his notable countrymen at 168lbs...case in point, Vincent Feigenbutz had zero amateur bouts...) and yet he is toiling away in the shadows on European undercards and inching his way toward a major sanctioning org ranking. He might be a year away from a Euro title shot, which is probably more or less his ceiling. Maybe a world title capture and short reign if he can pick off a relatively weak belt holder, like fellow kraut Tyron Zeuge. This would place him roughly on par where he was in the international amateur scene: middle of the pack, distinguished from the riffraff, competitive with some elites but not destined to become their peer.

In the world championships in 2011 he defeated the solid Adem Kılıççı of Turkey and dominated Jaba Khositashvili of Georgia (who racked up a 10-3 record in WSB and has since turned pro, currently 2-0 and based in Philly) but was eliminated by Ryōta Murata by a fairly close 15-18 margin in the stage just before the quarterfinals, and so did not medal. At the Olympics the following summer in London he reached the quarters but was denied a chance at the semis (and taking a bronze medal at minimum) when Anthony Ogogo received a very controversial decision over him - probably Ogogo's most egregious amateurs gift besides the one versus Khytrov in those same Games. Härtel also held amateur victories over Darren O'Neill from Ireland (wide), Anthony Fowler of the UK, and Hosam Bakr Abdin of Egypt (the bronze medalist of the world championships in 2015) - and took gold and occasionally silver in several of the regional "Memorial Cup" tourneys in Germany and the Balkan Peninsula.

Härtel debuted in 2014 and has racked up a 15-0 (1) record, curiously not scoring his first - and to date only - stoppage until January of this year, against 43 year old Tomasz Gargula (the Pole, nicknamed "Tomera", had recently been thrashed by Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam in preparation for that disastrous and ill-advised 2016 Olympic run, and had then quit the sport and tried MMA...where he lost his debut via quick armbar submission at the hands of low-level gatekeeper Shaun Lomas, with a record of 21-68 and with Tomera being his only victory in a 1-13 slump) - and this honestly was a poor stoppage with Gargula on his feet blinking off combos from Härtel like they were a light drizzle (or not even, just a misting rain).

In fairness, looking at the matchmaking a lot of these are notoriously hardheaded European and South American journeymen who can take a prolonged whooping and stretch prospects out a bit, although some like Ivan Jukic would be KTFO by a strong wind, so we can safely assume that Härtel just hasn't got the magic punch. What he does have is an educated jab, used to both thrust & parry, and what can be called a serviceable cross when he bothers with it. These punches, while straight and technically correct, aren't going to sting anyone short of the glassiest jaws in the world, but can freeze an opponent and buy him a moment. He also has a great sense of distance and quick legs to reset his position after throwing a jab or 1-2. Remind you of anyone? Yes, IMO, this is the second coming of Sven Ottke. Now to some that may sound like faint praise as Ottke is often relegated to a legacy of ridicule and scorn (homer champ, kidnapped the belt, got lots of gifts, boring, feather-fisted) but even if you turn several of his most questioned decisions against him it still ends up being a more than decent career for somebody with no pop, and he did earn hero status for life in most fans' books (albeit reluctantly) with the Mundine KO. I don't think being compared with him favorably should be all that much of an insult.

He is coming off his greatest professional triumph so far, a hard-fought MD over ten with Viktor Polyakov on the Eubank Jr. vs. Yildrim undercard earlier this month. Polyakov, himself an Olympic veteran who represented the Ukraine in 2004 (and tbf has a few quality scalps in his sparse decade-long pro career) brought his A game and Härtel was forced to dig considerably deeper than anybody has made him yet in the paid ranks. Polyakov started to land hail-Mary bombs on a tiring Härtel late but the younger man from Germany showed discipline and managed to weather the adversity to hold on.

Stefan Härtel vs. Tomasz Gargula (the big moment, his first professional "KO", such as it were ):

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Stefan Härtel vs. Viktor Polyakov (actually quite a good, close fight between two former Olympians):

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I'm reading the Eubank vs. Yildrim RBR thread now and seeing that many felt Polyakov was robbed a couple of weeks ago. I think it probably comes down to scoring what you like (and most people aren't going to "like" a style like Stefan's)

You've got to like his sense of humor, at least, though.

He needed stitches in his forehead after he fought Polyakov and posted this image on social media:

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...with the caption "I may not have steel in my fists, but at least I've got metal in my head

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✌️"

 

I guess the Ottke comparison is already proving apt.

First step up in class and it's a disputed decision.

 

Neglected to mention in the OP, but he did also have a stint in the WSB in between his regular amateur career and turning pro. He boxed for the German Eagles in seasons 2 & 3, but did not really distinguish himself in the individual rankings as his overall record was 3-4. I've watched a couple of his losses, however, and I think both (to William McLaughlin of Ireland, a longtime rival of Jason Quigley who actually dealt "El Animal" the penultimate defeat in his last 40 combined am/pro contests; and to Clarence Joseph of the USA) could have easily swung Härtel's way.

I think while precedent suggests he may well benefit from the notorious Deutsche home-cooking (especially being a Sauerland man), judges abroad might be apt to, consciously or not, discredit his unaesthetic style in such a biased way that actually balances the scales.

Case in point, I first watched Härtel vs. Polyakov on mute while ripping it from a Russian site and waiting for it to re-upload. I wasn't actively scoring it, but it felt like a toss-up, and it definitely seemed there were swing rounds aplenty. Leafing through posts in CST's thread on the night, I saw lots of posters (whom I respect) issuing cards with a shutout through six or seven for Polyakov, and that just didn't jive with the fight I saw. Then, however, I checked it out with the sound on and realized the British commentators had made up their mind about the narrative of the fight and framed it thenceforth in those exact terms, seeing only what they wanted to see to support their volunteered pearls of wisdom (something commentators are wont to do). And fans are wont to fall under the spell of that kind of leading, not the end of the world. And I'm not implying that everybody scoring in the RBR thread was necessarily influenced by the commentary (but everyone should acknowledge they could've been; we're only human!). But objectively I'm not sure this was a case of a terrible robbery even if you had it for the Ukrainian by a few points on your card, as objectively anyone could look at this match and see that it was a pattern fight, where entire multiple-round swaths of it could be argued either way depending on your precise granular criteria (most likely influenced by personal stylistic preference).

There was a stretch in the 4th in particular where the Brits were harping on about Poly "making the fight" as he lurched in winging hooks & overhands at the guard of his long & lanky natural-born fellow Bundesrepublik citizen, and smuggled in a few hard wrecking balls on the flanks. Meanwhile the effective jabs of Härtel landing between the older man's wrists or his footwork in constantly making Polyakov adjust to remain squared up, got ignored, though in fairness they did comment upon it a couple of times while gushing over the more exciting work from Polyakov.

 

I mean no, he doesn't seem to be gliding on a cushion of ether like human air-hockey puck Ottke, but he does sidestep and/or deflect a lot of what is thrown at him (and lands more jabs than most observers' eyes are catching while they're fixated on his opponents' flashier offense). He wasn't exactly ever schooling Polyakov at any point but he did have sequences where his hit-and-not-get-hit (flush) ratio was pretty high, even though he didn't do himself any favors by letting Polaykov appear to be the ring general and dictate the terrain of the fight and look the more comfortable with the type of scrap it was.