|
Born
in February of 1980, in Glandorf
near Osnabrück, Germany,
Christian Roesen now lives in
Sassenberg with his wife Lucille
and daughters Jealisa (2) and
Elly (9).
A Sales Director in an
engineering company, boxing has
been a part of his entire life,
more or less.
“My
Father, Heinz Werner Roesen, was
a very good amateur boxer, and
he brought me to the gym when I
was six years old”, explains
Christian. He was, and is, kind
of my teacher and idol,
and he is the reson I started
boxing, and still today I am
trying to fill his very large
shoes."
“I
had quite a lot of amateur
fights, especially while I was
serving in the German air-force
and boxed in military
tournaments. I liked being a
boxer, but I preferred getting a
good education so my boxing
career didn't last very long.”
With a big urge to stand on his
own two feet, Roesen left his
parents house when he was
seventeen to study economics and
mathematics in Bielefeld.
After leaving university he held
jobs as an insurance broker and
financial analyst before taking
on his current job.
But
boxing never left him, despite
picking school over a career in
the ring.
At the age of twenty Roesen
started working as a judge in
the amateurs, and two years
later he had his refereeing
debut.
He eventually worked over 1000
bouts, but his campaign in the
unpaid ranks one day came to a
sudden halt.
“I
got a call one day that I had
been chosen to be one of the
referees in the German national
amateur championships. I was so
happy, as it was one of my main
goals at the time. But then, one
day before the tournament was to
begin, I got another call that
they had decided to not use me
after all.”
“As
a result of this, I decided I
had had enough of the corrupt
amateur boxing game, and that I
instead wanted to try my luck in
the professionals.”
Roesen got his break as a
professional judge with the help
of experienced official Artur
Ellensohn, whom he considers one
of his mentors. Not afraid to
take advice from others, Roesen
says he has learned a lot from
Ellensohn, but also from
another, highly respected
referee:
“Steve
Smoger is another mentor of
mine. Whenever we meet we have
long, interesting conversations
which has helped me a lot. We
have regular contact, and he is
very good in giving me advice
from his own experience as a
referee.”
The thing is, besides
representing the World Boxing
Federation in Germany and acting
as the WBF Anti-Doping
Coordinator, Roesen is still
very much active as a judge and
referee. In fact, he is clearly
one of the most promising WBF
officials currently working.
So how did he get involved with
the WBF? Artur Ellensohn again!
“Artur
gave me a call one day, and
simply said: Pick me up
tomorrow, we are going to the
WBF Convention in Slovenia and I
wont take no for an answer! So,
I did that, we went, and that
was the beginning of my
involvement with the WBF.”
At the Convention in Maribor,
Roesen met many from the WBF
Directory, one of them being
European Chairman Olaf
Schroeder. Schroeder saw the
potential in his fellow German,
and he soon got him to join,
first as an official and later
in the other capacities.
“Olaf
is another guy I would call a
mentor”, says Roesen. “He gave
me a chance to do my best within
the WBF, and he believes in me
and gave me a chance to prove
myself working in WBF
International, Intercontinental
and World title fights.”
“We
have spend a lot of time
together in cars, driving to
shows, or in hotels, speaking
about boxing past, present, and
future, and it helps me a lot. I
really owe a lot of gratitude to
Olaf, but also to Artur and
Steve. I cant thank
these three guys enough."
Still only thirty-eight years
old, but with lots of experience
already, and a big desire to
always learn more, Christian
Roesen will almost certainly be
a very big part of the continued
success of the World Boxing
Federation.
His commitment to the WBF is
hard to downplay, when you hear
him say that he hopes at least
one of his daughters will one
day become a WBF World Champion.
Tongue in cheek, perhaps, but
then again, maybe not…
“When
I am done with boxing, many
years from now, I would like to
be remembered as a fair guy, a
funny and crazy guy. And the
father of the WBF Womens
Champion of the world...”
|
