René Weller is dead. The German boxing icon passed away after a long illness. During his lifetime, the “beautiful Rene” was one of the most prominent German martial artists – and also came into conflict with the law several times.
To describe him as dazzling would probably be an understatement. Viewed soberly, René Weller was a talented boxer who helped his sport gain increasing attention in Germany in the 1980s.
More than with his fights, however, he dominated the headlines at the time with the spectacle he put on around them, and later repeatedly with his criminal machinations.
On Monday, Weller passed away at the age of 69 as a result of dementia. His wife Maria confirmed a corresponding report by the Bild newspaper to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Wednesday night.
After a long illness: René Weller is dead
The disease had been diagnosed in 2014, in the end Weller was getting worse and worse, he was cared for by palliative doctors. “I let him go, it was very difficult in the last weeks,” Maria Weller said. “He was screaming, he was in pain.” A scintillating life came to a sad end.
In the 80s, Weller was something of a cult figure because, above all, he was a gifted entertainer. He performed like a playboy, he was the “beautiful Rene”.
Around his neck, the trained goldsmith and heating engineer wore a golden boxing glove on a gold chain, he posed in a king’s coat or surrounded by three beauties in a swimming pool. “I am the only German who looks better naked than dressed,” he said.
The “beautiful René: man of the boulevard
Weller has left out virtually nothing in his life. Women, parties, showbiz, prison. In the past 20 years, he has made appearances as a C-list celebrity in the Big Brother house, on “The Perfect Dinner” or on “Celebrity Wife Swap”.
The fact that the Pforzheimer was once the best German lightweight boxer and as such European champion, that he only lost one of his 55 fights as a professional, was increasingly forgotten.
“Others would have to have three lives to experience what I experienced,” Weller once told SID. Time and again he did things that others thought were crazy.
Before his fight against Charles LaCour in Las Vegas at the end of June 1982, he bet his entire $25,000 fee on his victory, he told Der Spiegel three years later. Needless to say, he won the fight.
World champion and in conflict with the law
Of course, Weller’s eventful life also included getting into trouble with the law several times during and after his career.
In 1999, he was sentenced to prison for cocaine trafficking, incitement to forgery and illegal possession of weapons, and served four and a half years in prison.
Weller always claimed that he had been framed: He had never had anything to do with drugs.