Fight Night in the Color Line Arena

On July 4th I had the opportunity to photograph the sport of boxing for the first time. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos directly at the ring, but only from the camera balcony. It was clear from the start that I wouldn't be able to produce any sellable pictures, but I was there and was able to get an idea of ​​what was going on.

I was surprised at the speed at which the 7 fights took place one after the other. Actually, there was only a break before the last and decisive fight between Alexander "Sascha" Dimitrenko from Hamburg and the American "Fast" Eddie Chambers, which was obviously also important for the live broadcast of the fight on ZDF.

There were a total of three really good and spectacular fights that evening. The German Alesia Graf only managed to win against the American Terri Lynn Cruz with difficulty, with a 2:1 judges' vote, which was met with boos from the audience. Those present had seen the American in the lead and a "re-match" was agreed in the ring.

However, local hero Susianna Kentikian from Hamburg clearly won against Argentina's Carolina Marcela Gutierrez Gaite, who never had the slightest chance. However, the fight was terrible to photograph because the female athletes could hardly see over the ropes.

The heavyweight fight between "Sascha" Dimitrenko and "Fast" Eddie was about the possibility of challenging WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko in the next fight. Dimitrenko from Hamburg was received with a standing ovation and due to his poor boxing style, the crowd's sympathy changed within minutes to the agile "Fast" Eddie. This shows that the audience was fair and interested in the sport - but I have never seen an athlete lose their sympathy so quickly.

The fight evening was one of the hardest events for me, because I had to spend over 5 hours directly under a spotlight - that was the best position, if you can even call it good when it comes to a camera podium. Furthermore, I shot almost 5 pictures in the 5000 hours because you never know when the decisive blow will come. My sitting position was also rather uncomfortable because the railing on the camera platform was relatively high.

I would like to show you some pictures: most of them were taken with a 400mm lens (thanks for the loan, Thomas) plus a 1,4x converter. I sometimes took photos up to ISO 6400.