Friday 29 October 2021
Cutman legend of mask
The flood robbed Knieps of the legendary gym
By Emmanuel Schneider
He is a legend in the boxing business. Walter Knieps once judged Henry Maske, Sven Ottke or Regina Halmich in the corner of the ring. In summer he has to cope with a low blow. The Cutman is hit hard by the devastating flood in the Ahr Valley. His boxing gym is a total loss.
Walter Knieps knows his way around big fights. In the 1990s, boxing greats Henry Maske and Axel Schulz trained on his premises. With several boxers he became a so-called cutman, i.e. helper or physiotherapist, and also world champion. The boxing veteran has been running his boxing club in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler for decades. After a difficult year in the corona pandemic, in which the club was closed almost continuously, the next tragedy began in July. The flood disaster even put his life in danger, as he told RTL / ntv in an interview.
“I was in the building. The water was knee-high, went up to under my jaw, then I turned around and back to the main street,” said Knieps. “Thank God I had a brainstorm and didn’t walk ten feet. Otherwise I would have drowned.” The 70-year-old got himself to safety, his property has been destroyed since that evening. Where once people used to train with punching bags, dumbbells and mats, there is now chaos. “Everything broken, defective, we could throw everything away. Everything that was electrical could be thrown away. An area of 1000 square meters – broken. Currently there is neither heating nor electricity.”
“Daily Fight”
Particularly bad: “All the souvenirs that have been collected for decades are all out the window. No more bar, no more lounge. All inventory items are out of the house.” He puts the damage at 700,000 to 800,000 euros. According to Knieps, he will be reimbursed 20 percent of the sum of the experts. “I have to dig deep into my own pocket. Everything that you have accumulated, saved and built up for 35 years is out of the house. You can imagine that one day you will be somehow depressed,” he says. The only thing that is currently lightening his mood is the good weather. “Nobody knows how hard the winter will be.”
He is also grappling with the bureaucracy’s challenges after the flood. “You have to fight your own city and district administration every day. You get tired and sad, you are simply depressed,” he sums up. He’s been working in the old studio for around 100 days, slowly getting it into shape. “From morning to evening, every day, even on the weekend, no public holiday, always on.”
Long-term planning is currently difficult. “There is no way to plan. Don’t know how hard the winter will be.” The plan is to restore the premises. “What will arise then, I cannot say.” To give him a helping hand, filmmakers have come up with a special event with the help of the Lanxess Arena and the Cinedom. On this Friday the film “Leberhaken” will be shown in the cinema in Cologne. Knieps acted as a consultant during the filming in 2020. The boxing expert helped actors Hardy Krüger and Luise Großmann and explained how to make a cut, how to hit the liver and make movements. “It was a nice weekend.” He was able to contribute well, “because I had already experienced exactly these situations.”
“I’m almost embarrassed”
The proceeds should completely benefit the former coach. The main actors Krüger and Großmann and other prominent guests will be present at the performances on Friday. He doesn’t really like being in the limelight so much. Knieps emphasizes: “I’m almost embarrassed when I’m in the Cinedom. I actually like to do my things alone.” He was pleasantly surprised by the initiative that the Berliners help him here. “Of course this is a good thing for us. I hope that there will be enough viewers in the Cinedom, that a certain amount will come together so that we can think further.” For the first time, he says, he’s been leaving the construction site for a long time. “I’m looking forward to these people whom I advised months ago.”
He wants to leave the money behind and not “do something haphazardly,” he says energetically. “I want to pay people who help you and who also make a living from work.” Every euro helps, emphasizes Knieps. It is a matter of sensibly building in every available euro, as he calls it, so that everything can work. For the time to come, he only wants one thing for the time being: “Inner complacency.” Maybe this Friday is another small step in that direction.